That Was Unexpected
by legolasgreenleaf15
Summary: After finally becoming a legal adult, I wound up heading to a party that I had no interest in attending. To make matters worse, I managed to trip over a tree root before waking up in a strange land. From there, I was pulled into someone else's plot to get back home. Who knew being an adult would be so complicated? *Legomance, 10/11th walker, Rated T because I worry*
1. Chapter 1

**AN: If anyone has been keeping tabs over the years, this marks my fourth (and hopefully last) attempt at a 10th walker story. I've had this typed up for quite a while, but I was waiting for a good time to post it. Today might not actually be that day, but I got tired of waiting. As for updates, they will likely occur irregularly once a month (as in it'll happen randomly one day, like a surprise) because that seems to work well for me. Thank you for reading!**

 **General Disclaimer: I do not own the general plot and characters from the Lord of the Rings.**

* * *

Chapter 1

My feet aimlessly pulling me forward, I hugged my textbooks to my chest, unable to concentrate on anything other than the pressure building within me. Clenching my teeth, I dug my nails into my palms. Today had been unbearable.

A few long strands of my light brown hair brushed my cheek, but I ignored them.

 _Do something daring. You're eighteen now, aren't you?_

Letting out a sigh, I tried to calm my breathing. Yeah, I was. When I woke up earlier this morning, I was hoping that I'd wake up stronger and more in control. I wanted to wake up and be able to defend myself from the control of others.

 _Come on, Katherine. Do something fun for once. You're so stiff._

It wasn't that I got bullied or anything. Usually, my school days passed without any issues. My classes always went well, and I was pretty smart. Dare I say it, I enjoyed going to school. I just couldn't stand up to the peer pressure. I mean, what if they were right? What if I did need to loosen up a bit now that I was an adult and everything? Sucking in a breath, I clenched my teeth, straining my jaw. I just couldn't. At least, not in the way she wanted me to.

 _You're always so goody-goody. Stop being so old-fashioned all the time._

Wincing, I shut my eyes and stopped walking. How could she say those things to me? I wasn't even that kind of girl! All I wanted was to be stronger, to stop feeling so guilty all the time.

Sharp pains erupted in my stomach and rolled through me, leaving behind a trail of guilt and misery. My shoes scuffing the sidewalk, I sucked in a breath. Held it there. Let it out.

What was I going to do?

* * *

 _"Happy birthday, girl!" Melanie said, squealing. Throwing her arms around me, she grinned, squeezing me tightly._

 _"It's about time you joined us, Kay," Harper smirked, tossing an arm over my shoulders._

 _Shrugging them off, I smiled. "It's not my fault I was born when I was."_

 _"Regardless," Harper said, nudging me with her shoulder, "you're an adult now. What's the first thing you're going to do?"_

 _Chuckling a little bit, I raised my eyebrows and smirked. "My taxes?"_

 _Melanie rolled her eyes. "You're so boring. Honestly, some days I wonder why I even bother with you." When she saw my faltering expression, she laughed and rolled her eyes again. "Girl, I'm joking. Did you actually think I was serious?"_

 _"A little," I admitted, adjusting my backpack on my shoulder, avoiding her eyes._

 _Melanie stopped in front of me, forcing me to look at her. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean it." A smile tugged at the corner of her mouth._

 _Shrugging, I tried not to let it get to me. It wasn't the first time something like this had happened, nor would it be the last. Sighing, I muttered faintly, "It's fine. I'm just messing with you." Forcing a smile that didn't reach my eyes, I started walking again, trying to ignore the small pit that was growing in my stomach._

 _Harper was silent for a minute, then looked at me sideways, saying, "You can't be serious about the taxes thing. What are you really going to do?"_

 _Meeting her eyes, I thought about it for a moment, feeling the tension in my stomach releasing a little. "I don't really know. I haven't given it much thought."_

 _"You know what you could do?" Melanie asked, looking over at us slyly. "You could go out for a drink tonight at the lake. Ben and the rest of the football team are hosting it, and I got invited. I could bring you guys if you wanted."_

 _I frowned. "The lake in the woods?"_

 _Melanie winked at me. "The one and only."_

 _"Sorry," Harper said, sighing. "I have work tonight and can't take off. I need the money for college next year."_

 _Rolling her eyes, Melanie turned to me, sighing in obvious annoyance. "What about you?"_

 _"I don't know." I shrugged, not wanting to hurt her feelings. There was no way I was going. If I went, I could end up ruining my future. I had scholarships and everything, but I couldn't just be mean and shut her down._

 _Mocking me, Melanie drawled, "What do you mean, 'I don't know?' Do something daring. You're eighteen now, aren't you?"_

 _"I mean, yeah, but..." My voice trailed off, making me sound weak. A lump started growing in my throat._

 _"'But' what?" Stopping in the middle of the hallway, Melanie grabbed my arm and forced me to meet her stare. "Come on, Katherine. Do something fun for once. You're so stiff."_

 _Knocking her hand away, I felt myself getting a little defensive. "I am not stiff. I'll probably have homework tonight."_

 _"Good thing tomorrow is Saturday. Just do it all then." Tossing some of her dark brown hair behind her, Melanie gave me a look. "You're always so goody-goody. Stop being so old-fashioned all the time."_

 _Turning my head away from her, I looked down and started walking away quickly. "I don't know. I'll think about it."_

 _Behind me, I heard Melanie turn to Harper, whispering, "At least it wasn't a no."_

* * *

That sick feeling didn't go away after I got home. All throughout dinner, all throughout laying on the floor of my room, hoping it would go away, it still remained. Even now, the dull ache ate at me. Tapping my pencil on the pages of my open chemistry textbook, my fear and indecision swirled around my stomach. Letting out a tight breath, I flopped onto my back, sprawling out on the carpet of my bedroom floor. Off to my left, my phone vibrated, drawing my attention. Rolling onto my side, I grabbed it, scanning the text.

Mel: Where r u? Its a blast n I feel like Im flying rn n I miss u

She was drunk already. Flipping to my stomach, I put my face in my hands and groaned. Should I at least go to check on her? That's what a good friend would do, right? But when was she ever a good friend to me?

Looking up at the clock, I groaned again, laying my face in my arms. It was only 9 o'clock. I'd never been drunk before, but I was pretty it was too early to be wasted. Clearly, Melanie didn't know this. Or she did but didn't care. Pushing myself up, I made up my mind. I was going to go get her. Changing out of my shorts and tank top, I threw on some dark sweats and headed out of my room, leaving the house quietly as I stepped into the gathering darkness.

I was about halfway there when I realized I hadn't brought my phone with me. Grumbling under my breath, I shoved my hands into the pocket of my sweatshirt and increased my pace. At least Melanie had hers with her.

It was definitely colder than I thought it would be. Despite being late April, the air was still clinging to winter's chill. If that was a metaphor for my life, then I didn't really appreciate it. Today was my first day of being an adult. I didn't need some omen about how I was trying to hold on to the last moments of my life as a minor, or that my future was going to be cold, hard, dead, and miserable.

Sighing hard through my nose, I lowered my head and closed my eyes, stopping for a moment. So far, being an adult really stunk.

A loud cheer cut through my thoughts. Looking up suddenly, I realized with a pang in my chest that the edge of the forest was nearing. I drew in a shaky breath, the air catching in my throat. The evening breeze burned my cheeks, and my heart started to hammer.

I wasn't strong enough to fight anyone off if they tried to force me to drink anything, whether it was literally or figuratively. People there would probably want me to join them, and I was afraid I would agree to it in order to keep the peace. For goodness sake, I was a people pleaser!

Closing my eyes, I tried to fight off the rising panic. I was here for Melanie. Forcing myself into the woods, I tried to tell myself that Melanie would do the same for me, but deep in my heart, I knew it was a lie.

My shoes brushing against the dirt and rocks, I slowly made my way along the path leading through the woods, following the growing noises and light. Putting a hand over my heart, I felt as if resting my palm there would stop my heart from leaping out of my chest and dying in the middle of the path. A couple of screams that faded into hysterical laughter reached my ears, and I winced. I was nothing like them. What was I really doing here? My head still tried to tell me it was for Melanie, but that argument was weakening since one of the laughs had belonged to her. She was probably fine. Turning, I started to head back up the path.

To my left, I heard a twig crack. My head snapped to the side, and I froze, searching for the source of the noise. The only things I could hear were my own shallow breaths and the noises behind me, but then I heard them. There were footsteps out there somewhere. They were slow and faint at first, but now they were picking up in pace and volume.

Snapping myself back into motion, I ran down the path, rocks digging into the soles of my shoes. My breaths now ragged, I fought to clear the approaching line of trees. I couldn't be sure, but it seemed like the footsteps were following me. Trying to make myself run faster, I gasped as my foot caught on a stray root. Feeling myself falling, I tried to protect my face but couldn't bring my arms up in time. With a rush of pain, I felt my head hit a rock and recoil a little before my body went limp. My vision went dark and faded into nothing.

* * *

My eyelids felt heavy. Letting out a low moan of pain, I stiffly rolled to my back. My head was pounding, and everything was too bright behind my eyelids. Hissing, I let out another cry and put a hand up to my head, using the other one to shield the bright light beating down on me. I struggled to sit up but couldn't as a wave of pain overtook me.

The ground beneath me started pounding. I tried to bring my knees up to my chest, praying it would stop. The noise grew louder and louder, and when it stopped, someone let out a noise of some sort. Something that sounded like a boulder attempting to run approached me, and I curled into myself, rolling away from the noise. It really hurt my head.

"Lassie? Are you alright?" A large shadow blotted out the light, but I couldn't figure out what it was.

Letting out a small groan, I muttered, "Not...Nessie.." Why did my lips feel so thick? Reaching out a hand, I tried to push the shadow away.

Catching my hand in some sort of trap, the shadow let out a gruff sigh then murmured, "Lucky I'm headed somewhere where you can get fixed up, no matter how stuck up the people are there."

"No..." I tried to roll away again, but the shadow scooped me up easily in its big hands. Gently lifting me, the shadow held me in its arms, and just before my world faded to black again, I caught a blurred glimpse of burnt orange fuzz mixed with swirls of green and brown.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN: This is a super fast turn around, so I hate to say that most of the monthly updates won't be like this, but I got this chapter done a lot faster than I thought I would, so here's June's update!**

 **Scylla's revenge: Thank you so much! I have enjoyed writing her awkwardness. Even though it's doubtful that it will be this fast again, I hope you enjoy the update! Thanks again!**

 **Lydwina Marie: Thank you for your review! I'm always worried that I've written a Mary Sue, so that's a relief to hear. Luckily for you, you'll find that out this chapter :) Well you didn't really have to wait this time, but I make no promises for the next one! Thank you again!**

* * *

Chapter 2

My eyes fluttered open again, and my vision was still blurry. What was going on? In the corner of the room, I could hear a gruff voice hastily asking, "...going to make it?"

What was he talking about? Was it me?

Something deep droned back, and I sucked in a breath through my teeth. My head hurt so much. Another shadow moved across my vision, but this time something started to form. My head hurt as I desperately sorted through it. Startling grey eyes and dark brown hair came into focus. Withdrawing, I let out another gasp and tried to move my arms up to my head. To my shock, they wouldn't move.

What was going on?

I heard a shushing noise, but it sounded fuzzy to me, almost like static. Slowly shaking my head, I struggled to move anything other than my head. Fighting to open my mouth wider in order to speak properly, I moaned at the pain in my jaw. Pairs of hands grabbed my shoulders, and something started lulling me back into sleep.

My breaths started coming in fast, ragged gasps as I fought against the things holding me down. I didn't like this. Everything hurt and I wanted to know what was going on, but I couldn't talk, and that was absolutely terrifying.

Somewhere in all of the murkiness, I could hear a voice. "Lass, you're going to have to lie still." It was that gruff one again, but his words echoed around my head. More hands were laid on my arms, and that gruff voice rumbled again, but I couldn't tell what was being said. Slowly, I controlled my breathing. I knew that voice. As more voices soothed me, I felt myself relaxing as the grey-eyed man put me to sleep.

* * *

It was the strange snoring that jolted me awake. Blinking heavily, my vision blurred but came into focus as I struggled to gain my bearings. My back, arms, and legs all ached a little bit, but that pain was nowhere near as powerful as the one in my head.

Looking around, there were strange hues of color clinging to the walls of the room. It was dark outside, and the silver from the moon was fragmented, scattering the beams of light on the ground. Despite my headache, I felt a strange sense of tentative peace.

Where was I? Was I dead?

Another loud snore reached my ears. Blinking my eyes into focus again, I turned to the side sharply, wincing at the pain. Grabbing for my head, I could dimly make out a short man's sleeping form on the chair in the corner of my room. His burnt orange beard rose and fell on his chest with every breath, and he twitched in his sleep every so often.

It was a little weird, but there was that color. I knew that burnt orange from somewhere, but I couldn't put my finger on it. My head started throbbing in protest of the sudden intense thinking.

Frowning in thought, I looked out the window across the room. What I saw blinking back in the darkness made my jaw drop, much to my jaw's displeasure.

Apparently, the black haired girl staring back at me was shocked too, as her gaping mouth matched mine. Neither of us moved for a couple of seconds, then I winced when another snore filled the air.

The strange girl took this as her opportunity to break into my room. Running around the corner to the door, she silently dove into my room, rolling herself to a stop. "You're awake."

Seeing this unfold before me, I flinched. "Who are you?" My throat burned and my voice rasped. Instinctually, I reached up to rub my neck. If the girl noticed my pain, she didn't say anything about it.

Dressed in a black shirt and black pants, she put her hands on her hips and looked at me sharply. Her black hair was tied back in a high ponytail, and her green eyes flashed every time I tried to shift in my bed. Multiple piercings cut along the outer rims of her ears while another one glittered on the side of her nose. To put it mildly, she looked edgy. Edgy and very intrigued in seeing me awake.

Swallowing with difficulty, I tried to speak again. "Who are you?"

Waving my question off with a flick of her wrist, she was sitting on the edge of my bed in moments, leaning closer to my face. "They said you just appeared out of nowhere, so you have to tell me this much. Where did you come from?"

Scooting away from her, my eyes flicked over to where the strange man was sleeping. "Why should I tell you?"

What was this? Was this girl spying on me or something?

"Because it's important!" She hissed quietly, her green eyes narrowing. Throwing a look over her shoulder at the man, she waited to see if she'd woken up. When he didn't so much as stir, she composed herself and turned to face me again. "Please tell me. I've been stuck here for so long."

"Stuck here?" I swallowed again, desperately trying to coat my throat again.

"Yes, but that's not important right now. Please just tell me you came from Earth." She rolled her eyes in an effort to seem relaxed, but her whole body quivered with tension.

Folding my arms over my chest, I shook my head. "Not until you tell me your name."

"Well, then you can just stay stuck here too while I go save myself. I was going to offer you some help, but if you're going to be stubborn, then I won't waste my time." Pushing off the bed, she started to head out of my room.

"Wait!" I coughed. Relief flooded me as she paused, turning, a smirk on her face. "I'm from New York."

"The city?" She smiled, and the first spark of warmth I'd seen from her grew in her eyes.

I shook my head. "Upstate."

She nodded her head, considering this. "I'm an LA girl myself. Don't worry, we'll make it out of here." With that, she turned and ran out of my room, leaving me with nothing but an image of her burning in my mind.

* * *

Days passed with no further sightings of the strange girl, but during that time, I eventually learned the names of the people who had nursed me back to health. The person with the burnt orange beard was named Gimli, and he was the one who'd found me in the forest. He was also the first person, aside from the mysterious 'LA girl,' to see me awake. For some reason, he took it upon himself to watch over me during the nights, which explained why he was sitting in the chair the one night I'd woken up. I tried not to find it creepy as he seemed nice enough.

There were also two other men, and while both of them were tall, one was significantly older looking and constantly wearing grey while the other man wore elegant robes and had brown hair. The former was named Gandalf, and while I hadn't really talked with him much, there was something about him that reminded me of a spirited grandfather, aside from his age. Elrond, the elf with brown hair, was the one who had actually healed me. When my condition was more stable, he mentioned that I'd been out for three days and that my fate would be decided soon but said nothing about weird teenage girls. It wasn't like I expected him to, nor could I say I was too disappointed about no news.

For the first time since I'd arrived, I was allowed to walk around outside; however, they wouldn't let me go unless I changed into more 'appropriate clothing.' I wanted to refuse, but at the same time, I was tired of staying in bed. While they fitted me in a dress, I made sure they would return my sweats to me, though. It was ridiculous, but they were the only things I had left from my home in New York.

That was something I tried not to think about. It was a little hard, but the reality of my being in a new world was a little too much for me to handle on top of my improving health. It kind of didn't feel real, but I kept waking up here.

In my deep thinking, I failed to hear someone calling out. That is, I didn't notice until someone threw a pebble that hit my arm. My head turned to the side, and my hand started rubbing my stinging arm. "What the-?"

"Hey Upstate. How's it going?" Dropping from a tree in all of her pierced glory, mystery girl met my eyes and smirked. "Nice to see you out and about." With a flick of her wrist, her unbound hair flew over her shoulder.

"I have a name you know," I retorted, my face growing hot.

She raised an eyebrow, shifting her weight to one of her hips. "You suddenly feel like sharing now?" When I didn't answer, she shrugged, "Upstate it is." Turning her attention from me, she started cleaning under her nails.

Furrowing my brow, I crossed my arms over my chest. "What am I supposed to call you? 'Valley Girl?'"

Laughing in a way that immediately made me feel dumb, she shook her head. "I'd prefer my name thanks." Shaking her head, she pursed her lips in a smile. "Normally I'd make you crack first, but I'm starting to get desperate." She stuck out her hand. "The name's Rose."

I didn't feel like I owed this girl anything, so I kept my arms folded over my chest.

Shrugging, she withdrew her hand. "Suit yourself Upstate, but I've got a plan to work out."

Clearing my throat, I stared her down. "You know, I'd prefer my name as well, thanks. It's Katherine."

Rose held my gaze for a second, then that irritating smirk appeared on her face. "You're really in no place to sass me as I'm your only ticket out of here, but that sort of spunk might keep things interesting. Where we'll be going isn't just a day trip down the road." She made to start walking away but held my gaze over her shoulder. "Now as I've been saying, I've got some planning I've got to get done, so you can either come with me and help or continue to be the safe little girl you strike me as and stand there while I do all of the dirty work." Turning her head, she sauntered away, calling, "The choice is yours Upstate."

 _Do something daring._ Oh, I'd do something daring alright.

Gathering my skirts, I ran after her. It didn't take much to catch up, though, as if she knew that's what I was going to do. As I fell in stride with her, I shot her a look out of the corner of my eyes. "I told you not to call me that."

That stupid smirk appearing again, she didn't meet my stare. "It grew on me."

"Well," I hissed, stumbling over what to say next, "grow out of it." She didn't answer, and we were engulfed in a wave of uncomfortable silence. I took in a deep breath, starting to drift off in the peaceful scenery, when all of a sudden Rose burst out laughing, causing me to choke on my air. "What the heck are you doing?"

"Oh, I've just realized you haven't met the others." Somehow, that smart smirk of hers grew. "I wish you the sincerest luck I can in dealing with them."

As she increased her pace, I hung back for a moment, feeling a growing sense of unease bubbling in my stomach. I'd only just officially met this girl, but at the mention of getting home, I'd leaped at her offer. Since when was I so eager to trust someone I knew nothing about?

 _You're so stiff._

An angry "Come on Upstate!" grabbed my attention, and I hurried after her, swallowing my rising second thoughts.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: Here's another update! It's partly a short filler because I didn't want to start the Ring plot until the next chapter. I tried to keep the hobbits in character, but I don't know how well it worked.**

 **Lydwina Marie: I'm actually glad that you say that because I wanted Rose to come off a little direct. Thank you!**

 **Scylla's revenge: The banter was a lot of fun to write honestly. I'm pretty sure all of that is addressed in this chapter! Thank you so much!**

 **SortingHat: I can't say that I've thought about my characters in that way. Thank you for reading and leaving a review, though!**

* * *

Chapter 3

"Meet the crew," Rose said, propping a hand on her hip. There were three four-foot guys standing before us, each one staring at me with varying levels of energy. One of them waved and smiled enthusiastically, another gave me a small nod, and the last one regarded me reservedly. "They've got a plan for what's happening tomorrow."

My eyebrows raised, I could only gape at them. "Are they children?" My voice was no louder than a whisper.

Rose just smirked at me again.

That's when it hit me. My shock intensifying, I turned on her, "I thought you said you were doing the planning!"

"Oi!" The enthusiastic being scowled at this, turning to Rose before she could defend herself. "You never said she'd be insulting."

The reserved one mumbled, "Give her a break. She's only woken up just recently."

"Excuse you!" Rose's tone sharpened as she turned to me. "These are some of the most dependable hobbits in the entire city." A little quieter, she muttered, "They're just helping."

"What the heck is a hobbit?" I knew I was being rude, but honestly, I couldn't help it. None of this was making any sense, and perhaps the culture shock was starting to hit me. "What's going on?"

"But, wait," the enthusiastic hobbit pondered, his scowl vanishing, "there aren't a lot of other hobbits in Rivendell."

"If I'd known she was going to be like this I wouldn't have come." The hobbit who'd nodded said plainly, folding his arms across his chest.

Rose fixed him with a glare. "You would have come because I told you to, and Katherine here has experienced some trauma, so lay off her."

"I haven't experienced any trauma!" I hissed at Rose, but she dismissed me with a wave of her hand.

"Merry, could you run down the plan for her?" While her tone was sweet enough, she fixed the hobbit who'd nodded with a look promising certain death if he decided to do otherwise.

Merry shot me a suspicious glance, then started explaining it to me, clearly against his will. "There's going to be a secret council meeting sometime soon that none of us folks are supposed to know about. Now I wasn't the one who heard about this whole thing." Gesturing to the enthusiastic hobbit with a casual wave, Merry went on, "Pippin here was the one who told us all about it, so no one knows if it's true or not."

"Merry! You think I'd lie about that?" Pippin spread out his arms, hurt and outrage on his face.

Merry shrugged. "It's not that I think you're lying, it's just that I think you might not be telling us a real truth."

"Begging your pardon, but how is that any different?" The reserved hobbit squinted between the two of them.

Rose cleared her throat and glared at the three of them once more. "Now that we've opened yet another argument, how about we knock it off and get back to business?" Sighing, she exaggerated a smile, then continued the plan with a roll of her eyes. "I don't doubt Pippin's account, and it's the best lead we have." She turned to me and started talking with her hands. "Now, as we aren't supposed to know about this whole thing, we've got to sneak around and eavesdrop on them. They're going to be devising this plan to send a group of people out to do something that Pippin didn't catch, but I'm assuming that it's nothing too hard."

I let all of it sink in for a few seconds and took a breath. Closing my eyes, I asked, "So wait, that's your plan? You're going to sneak into a secret council meeting and listen to what they're talking about, then somehow join a band of people that you aren't supposed to know about in order to get out of here?"

Rose raised her eyebrows and fixed me with a look. "Do you have a better plan?" In truth, I didn't. Raising an eyebrow, she caught that I wasn't going to offer anything and continued, "I was going to hide with Samwise here," she gestured to the timid hobbit, "under a ledge behind some plants while you," she pointed at me sharply, "are going to hide with them," she pointed at Merry and Pippin just as sharply, "behind some pillars. Do not break your cover in any way to jump into the discussion, because all we're trying to do is get information about when and where they're leaving. That way we can just covertly tag along behind them until we're too far away to be sent back."

Her plan was still super dumb, and all of her gestures didn't help her case. There wasn't any way that it was going to work, because it sounded way too simple and had too much room for error. But I wasn't going to say it was dumb again. I only wanted to live through that confrontation once.

"No objections?" With her hands on her hips, Rose gave me a pointed look. Refusing to waver, I held her gaze evenly and crossed my arms. After a moment, she flashed me that smirk again then turned to the hobbits. "Alright, for now, plan on meeting back here tomorrow afternoon shortly after the sun reaches its highest point in the sky or whatever. The council meeting is later than that, but I want us to be in position and ready before anything starts." With a big smile, she nodded to us, saying, "Nice planning everyone. I'll see you back here tomorrow."

With an excessive feeling of doubt weighing on my chest, I watched as the hobbits walked off, talking loudly and pushing each other playfully while they went. Rose cleared her throat, and my attention shifted to her.

"Honestly Upstate, don't worry so much. I didn't know you were so uptight." She chuckled at her little 'joke,' then gave me a pat on the back. "Trust me, it'll all work out just fine."

As I watched her walk off, I didn't find anything in me that believed her.

* * *

Rolling over onto my stomach, I couldn't bring myself to sleep. It was all just too much for me: the plan, the fear surrounding the plan, the shock of being in a different world. Then there was the little gibe from Rose that hit a little too close to home. Memories of Melanie swirled around my head, and I rolled over in frustration.

How did I always manage to find people like her? Maybe I was just being way too sensitive about the whole thing, but the remarks still stung.

Swinging my legs over the side of my bed, I pushed myself to my feet and walked out into the cool midnight air. A small sense of peace blossomed in my stomach, and I found myself savoring the small breeze that greeted me as I stood outside my doorway. My hair brushed my cheek, and I began fighting to live in that moment of peace. Fighting to live far from the remarks that always seemed to get me down.

Did they want me to loosen up? If only they could see me in this moment of defiance. The thought brought a sarcastic smile to my lips as I exhaled sharply.

Moving to the railing just across from my doorway, I leaned my forearms against it and let out a softer breath. Not a soul was awake in all the world it seemed. All except for me. The peace started to flow through my veins, which was a small comfort against my growing negativity. To me, this was merely an empty moment of trying to let go, ruined by the deafening remarks of those around me.

Why did I care so much?

The faint pattering of footsteps tore me from my musings. Looking up, I watched as a pair of lovers, one much older looking than the other, seemingly waltzed through the starlight below me. Their hands were clasped, and every so often their eyes would meet, bringing controlled amounts of joy to their features.

Suddenly, I felt like a stranger witnessing something that wasn't meant to be seen. Whatever peace I had left was immediately replaced by waves of guilt, and I backed into my room quickly, hoping that they hadn't seen me. While they seemed to be focused on each other, I didn't want to be intrusive.

Walking back to my bed, I sat down on it before flinging myself onto my back, tangling a hand through my hair. All I wanted to do was wallow in more self-pity, but I was starting to grow tired. Perhaps all of my feelings were finally draining me.

Gathering up my legs on the sheets, I rolled onto my side and waited for morning to come.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Sorry about the long wait. I hope the fact that this one is a little bit longer will make up for it :)**

 **Scylla's revenge: Thank you so much! There's a little bit of the hobbits in here, don't worry :) I'm trying to take what I think is a slightly different approach to the scene, so I look forward to reading what you think about it! Your comment about the natural and non-cliche was such a relief to hear because that's what my goal is. Thank you, it really means a lot!**

 **Lydwina Marie: Don't worry, there's more annoying Rose in this chapter :) Here you go, and thanks for your review!**

* * *

Chapter 4

"Merry! Can you believe we're sneaking around right now?" Pippin whispered rather loudly. I stifled a groan but found myself unable to do anything about him. What was there for me to do?

Luckily, Merry thought of something for me. A soft smack and a small noise from Pippin followed his whisper. "Quiet Pip! We can't get caught or else Rose will have our heads."

 _More like she'll have my head._

When we had all met up earlier, Rose had informed me that if Merry and Pippin screwed everything up, it would be on me because apparently, I was in charge. If I knew anything about myself, it was that I had timidness in spades and no air of authority. How was I successfully going to be in charge of two hobbits who seemed to have a strange affinity for trouble?

Thankfully, the secret meeting hadn't started yet, but I knew it was about to start shortly. The three of us were "casually" wandering around in order to appear inconspicuous as we got into position, but while we walked, I could feel an odd tension in the air. I wasn't completely sure if it was due to the threat to my life or not. The tension around us felt too vast, though, so I was relatively confident that it wasn't fixed on me. Hopefully, I wasn't just trying to comfort myself.

Whatever meeting we were about to eavesdrop on was clearly about something serious, and that alone was giving me cold feet. I knew I was stuck between a rock and a hard place, however, because Rose would talk me back on the bandwagon. Knowing me, I'd relent. I'd relent because I was too nice and too weak to fight back.

It had taken us a little while, but the pair of pillars we were supposed to hide behind were in sight. Rose had scouted out the area beforehand because "she was good at that" and later determined that the three of us would hide best behind two large stone pillars. Despite the fact that we would be totally exposed if we moved too much, I told myself that she was right and, biting down my ever-rising doubts, went along with it.

Did I worry that the people who saved my life would turn on me for sneaking around their backs in this manner? Yes. Yes, I did, and rather strongly at that. Even if I got all the satisfaction in the world from knowing Rose's plan had failed spectacularly, I didn't want to upset the only people I'd come to know in this strange place.

The sound of a bell and lots of footsteps made me stop in my tracks. The meeting was starting. Grabbed the two hobbits roughly, I pulled them into some bushes that were on our right. Pippin started to raise a complaint about something again, but Merry silenced him with a sharp glance. At least Merry had some sense between the two of them.

For a while, a few of the members of the council talked amongst themselves. I couldn't grasp anything specific, but there were no shouts of "Over there!" or "What are you doing in those bushes?" so I figured we were safe. Gradually, the murmurs of conversation faded out as the sound of cloth brushing wood took its place. Nothing interesting was happening from I could hear, but right when I thought the silence would never break, a clear voice rang out, "Strangers from distant lands, friends of old, you've been summoned here to answer the threat of Mordor. Middle-Earth stands upon the brink..." It was Elrond, and it appeared as though we were in the clear.

Well, while that was just dandy and all, we weren't in position yet.

My heart started hammering in my chest as fear came over me like a wave. Rose was going to kill us if we didn't get into our spots soon. Turning to the hobbits behind me, I tried to fix them with an authoritative expression and hoped my voice sounded steadier than I felt. "We've got to move, but so help me if you give us away." Gesturing with my hand, I crept along the line of bushes and attempted to swallow the feelings of doubt and uncertainty that felt lodged in my chest.

Snippets of remarks were made, but I was more focused on making it to the pillars without being seen than remembering anything that was said. Hopefully Rose and Sam were in their positions. I assumed they were because Rose was over there. A stab of worthlessness found its mark in my chest as well, adding to my growing list of problems.

After a few horrible moments of terror at the thought of getting caught, we finally made it to our designated spot, but that meant the three of us were pleasantly gathered too closely for comfort as we tried to stay out of the line of sight. All was well, though, and I started to relax.

And then Pippin decided he wanted to blatantly cross the gap between the pillars.

I could see the idea forming in his eyes, so I opened my mouth to whisper a probably-strongly-worded warning. This wouldn't have been a problem if the gap wasn't completely exposed for the entire meeting to see. Unfortunately, before I could say anything, he rolled across, yelping a little as he hit the ground.

I closed my eyes immediately, bracing for the worst, and slapped my hand over my mouth to keep from making any more noise. A few seconds passed before I could look down at Merry for support, but I was disappointed to see that Merry was also celebrating Pippin's little stunt.

If this all went south, it would clearly be my fault.

Some sudden noise from the meeting drew my attention away from Pippin's stupidity. I was flooded with more panic and despair until a smooth, rich voice rang out, "It is a gift. A gift to the foes of Mordor." There was a slight pause before he continued, "Why not use this Ring? Long has my father, the Steward of Gondor kept the forces of Mordor at bay. By the blood of our people are your lands kept safe. Give Gondor the weapon of the enemy. Let us use it against him."

Pippin had gone unnoticed. Looking across the gap, I shot him a glare as my body went limp with relief. He noticed the look but wasn't at all fazed by it. In fact, he gave me a wicked smile in return. Insufferable hobbit.

Throughout our entire exchange, I missed what another man had said. To be fair, though, I was still reeling after Pippin's stunt. Not to mention I was carrying the weight of feeling absolutely good-for-nothing because I hadn't been able to stop it. Then there was my obvious inadequacy because we were late in getting to the pillars.

But there was everything that man had been saying. What was this Ring? Was it a weapon? Was this actually a war council? Hadn't Rose said this meeting wasn't going to be about anything hard? I couldn't fight to defend myself from anything, let alone fight against other people with actual weapons in a war.

"The One Rings answers to Sauron alone. It has no other master." A man with a low voice seemed to be opposing whatever the first man had said.

Now, who was Sauron?

"And what would a Ranger know of this matter?" The first man spoke with venom and mockery lacing his words. It was a little early to start judging strangers, but the way he was saying things reminded me of Melanie. Secretly, I hoped I would never have to meet him.

A new voice jumped to the low, brave voice of opposition's defense. "This is no mere Ranger. He is Aragorn, son of Arathorn. You owe him your allegiance." What shocked me the most about this man's outburst was the fact that his voice was so fluid and full of light. I never knew a voice could sound as clear as his. What he had said meant nothing to me.

Apparently, Aragorn's sudden reveal meant something to everyone else. So much so that when the first man responded, his voice was dripping with contempt. "Aragorn. This is Isildur's heir?" He had said Aragorn's name with such slowness that he was practically chewing the syllables.

Without missing a beat, the light voice added, "And heir to the throne of Gondor."

Aragorn, as he'd been called, mumbled something that didn't quite sound like anything I could understand, so his words went right over my head.

I took a moment to just hold my head. Breathing in deeply, I tried to sort through all of the pieces of information and feelings and questions that were racing through it. Maybe they'd let me out of bed too early. Maybe my "trauma" or whatever was back. It was so overwhelming because everything they were saying scared the life out of me for reasons I didn't understand because nothing made any sense.

Why did the people care so much about Aragorn? What sort of problem did the first man have with Aragorn? Why did the man with the light voice jump to Aragorn's defense so quickly? What was the whole deal with the Ring anyway? Was there going to be a war?

The first man's voice tore through my thoughts as he all but hissed, "Gondor has no king. Gondor needs no king."

A familiar voice changed the subject, breaking the silence that had gathered. "Aragorn is right. We cannot use it." It was Gandalf! I couldn't explain why, but hearing his voice made me feel a little bit better. Maybe it was because he was old or maybe because he seemed nice, but some of my stress simply floated away.

Elrond was quick to respond to that. "You have only one choice. The Ring must be destroyed."

Just like that, my stress returned with a vengeance. What was all of this about destruction? My brows knitting together, I wondered if I'd heard him wrong. I was too weak to give bringing destruction even half of a thought.

Another new and familiar voice growled, "What are we waiting for?" Gimli gave what I assumed was a battle cry before something cut through the air. Soon after, there was a strange crash followed by a heavy thud. What was going on? As much as I longed to turn around, to see if Gimli was alright, I couldn't bring myself to move.

There was some muttering amongst the gathered men, and then Elrond declared, a little too late, "The Ring cannot be destroyed, Gimli son of Gloin, by any craft that we here possess. The Ring was made in the fires of Mount Doom. Only there can it be unmade. It must be taken deep into Mordor and cast back into the fiery chasm from whence it came. One of you must do this."

Absolute silence filled the air. My brain spinning faster now, I tried to wrap my head around Elrond's sudden drop of information. Mordor and Mount Doom both sounded like places I wanted to stay very far away from. There was also the fact that this Ring could only be destroyed by volcanic fire. That didn't really help anything. If it were me, I'd likelier drop the Ring on the ground then trip into the fire and die than save the day. Rose and Elrond were absolutely insane.

Unsurprisingly, the first man started speaking again, "One does not simply walk into Mordor. Its Black Gates are guarded by more than just Orcs. There is evil there that does not sleep. The Great Eye is ever-watchful. It is a barren wasteland riddled with fire, and ash, and dust. The very air you breathe is a poisonous fume. Not with ten thousand men could you do this. It is folly." He sounded so confident in himself that I found myself a little wary of him for reasons that went past the Melanie vibes.

As I thought more about his words, I started realizing how badly I didn't want to follow through with Rose's plan if I was going to eventually die. Poisonous fumes? Barren wasteland? General evil? No thanks.

The light voice tried to overcome the negativity by declaring, "Have you heard nothing Lord Elrond has said? The Ring must be destroyed."

Gimli was quick to respond with what sounded like pure aggression, "And I suppose you think you're the one to do it?"

The first man was talking again, his words echoing through the air, "And if we fail, what then? What happens when Sauron takes back what is his?"

"I will be dead before I see the Ring in the hands of an Elf!" If Gimli wasn't being aggressive before, he definitely was now. I couldn't understand why, because he had seemed so caring when he'd picked me up and then later watched over me.

His comment drove the entire meeting into an uproar as all sorts of voices started shouting over each other, each one full of some threat or apprehension to the task Elrond came up with. I could pick out fragments of what people were saying, but nothing I was hearing made any sense. I also couldn't identify who was saying what, which was rather frustrating; however, everything started to die down when a small, younger sounding voice cried out. "I will take it! I will take the Ring to Mordor."

Pippin and Merry turned to each other, simultaneously whispering, "Frodo!" I didn't have the heart to shush them because he was obviously someone they knew.

Just like that, there was that silence again. At least, until Frodo went on, "Though, I do not know the way." As hard as he tried to break it, another pause followed his words.

Gandalf was the first to speak again, "I will help you bear this burden, Frodo Baggins, as long as it is yours to bear."

"If by my life or death I can protect you, I will," Aragorn spoke next, without hesitation. "You have my sword."

Surprisingly, the light voice followed Aragorn's. "And you have my bow."

"And my axe," Gimli said as he volunteered himself next. That added to my shock as he didn't seem to get along with the light voice.

Everything shifted to displeasure when the first man took his opportunity to speak yet again, "You carry the fates of us all, little one. If this is indeed the will of the Council, then Gondor will see it done."

Just when I thought no one else was going to volunteer, because the plan had specifically stated there would be no involvement, Sam gave a sharp cry. As he burst out of his cover, I heard Rose's angry yell fill the clearing. "What are you doing!?"

Sam's reply was rather sweet. "Mister Frodo's not going anywhere without me." If only I could find a nice friend like him.

"And you're not going anywhere without me." Rose retorted, her voice laced with irritation instead of loyalty. If only I could stay away from people like her.

"It is hardly possible to separate you even when he is summoned to a secret Council and you are not," Elrond said, amusement in his voice. He took a small breath, then addressed Rose, "Yet Rose, I cannot allow-"

There was a small noise to my left. I turned to look at my temporary companions and found them looking at each other with matching conspirator's smiles. Quickly, I opened my mouth to protest, "No you—"

Merry cut me off, proclaiming, "Oi! We're coming too!" Swiftly turning to me, he grabbed my wrist, his smile growing. "Come on Katherine!"

As he dragged me out of hiding I tried to wrench my arm free. "Uh, I don't agree to this. Let me go! I do not give my consent!"

Merry completely ignored me, which might have been payback for when I first met them, by saying, "You'll have to send us home tied up in a sack to stop us."

"Don't worry about me; I'll go straight home without all that fuss," I mumbled quickly, still pulling on my arm.

Rose shook her head and turned to Elrond. "No, she won't." Then she looked over at me and hissed, "Shut it, Upstate!"

"Anyway," Pippin interjected, "you need people of intelligence on this sort of mission. Quest. Thing."

Merry turned to him a quietly murmured. "Well, that rules you out, Pip."

Elrond surveyed us, then fixed his eyes on Rose and me. "I'm afraid that I simply cannot allow the two of you to accompany them. It'll be much too dangerous for you."

"I beg your pardon, Elrond, but I'm pretty sure Katherine and I can handle it." When Rose saw me frantically shaking my head at her, she rolled her eyes. "At least, I can handle it, but she needs to come too. Let us at least go with them for a while. We could depart for Lorien on our own when we get relatively close to it." Elrond was about to raise some concerns again, but Rose cut him off. "Please! Galadriel might know what to do with us."

Elrond weighed this, then finally sighed. "Eleven companions. So be it. You shall be the Fellowship of the Ring."

My jaw dropped. This was absolutely insane, and I was going to die. But yet, if I was dead, I won't have to deal with everyone's opinions of me. I guess there was that to look forward to in death.

"Great," Pippin said. "Where are we going?"

Inevitable death, here I come.


	5. Chapter 5

**AN: I apologize for my absence and the missed update! Things just got a little busy all at once, but here's September's update! It's more of a filler chapter if I'm being honest, mostly because I didn't think they'd just jump into leaving right after the council meeting. Thank you all for your patience!**

 **Jaya Avendel: Thank you so much! I had some fun with it :)**

 **Scylla's revenge: I know right? Pippin's one of my favorites (then again, all of them are my favorite). Aww, thank you so much! That's what I was hoping for :)**

 **Lydwina Marie: Thank you! I really appreciate it!**

* * *

Chapter 5

Gritting my teeth, I hissed in frustration as I watched my arrow fly to the left of the target. Again. I turned to Aragorn and gave him the same look I'd been giving him for the past hour. "I can't do this."

Just like the other times when I brought up my doubts, Aragorn simply smiled, saying, "Katherine, don't be so hard on yourself." Holding up a hand, he walked to where my arrows were lying scattered like sticks on the ground, far away from the tree I was aiming at. I held back an angry huff of breath. The hand was unnecessary because even if I was aiming for him, it wasn't like I'd be able to hit him.

Looking across the clearing we were training in, I watched as Rose hurled knife after knife at her target. Boromir, the man who'd been so chatty at the meeting, stood a ways away with his arms crossed, occasionally nodding in approval at her success. It took more effort than I was willing to admit to stop my lip from curling.

Aragorn cleared his throat, holding all of the arrows I'd blindly released. Taking them from him, I struggled to slide them back into my quiver. The bow became awkward to hold in my hand, but when Aragorn started to offer his help, I cut him off, saying, "I don't want it."

I was honestly surprised Aragorn hadn't yelled at me for being so incompetent yet.

"You don't need to be so hard on yourself." Again with those words! Aragorn searched my face, but I stubbornly refused to meet his eyes. With a sharp jerk of my arm, I notched the arrow in my bow and loosed a breath.

"Remember to draw back with your back, not your arms."

Trying not to hiss in annoyance, I didn't respond to his advice. He'd been repeating himself like a broken record since we began, and it had gotten us nowhere.

My feet were shoulder width apart. My grip on the bow was relaxed, or as relaxed as I could make it in my frustration. My index finger was above the arrow. My back muscles were pulling the string back. My dominant eye was aiming at the tree. My patience was wearing thin.

Stiffening, I released, feeling the string scrape against my fingers. Sucking in a breath, I ignored the throbbing in my hand and watched my arrow fly. It landed somewhere in the bushes to the left of the tree trunk I was aiming for.

I tried to exhale calmly, but I felt like I was choking. Trying not to scream, I gripped the bow with both hands, feeling very much inclined to break it in half. There was a firm hand on my shoulder. Aragorn. Turning my head, I didn't care that he could see the defeat and anger blazing in my eyes.

I couldn't wield a sword because the proximity to danger scared me too much to even let myself learn. On top of that, there was the possibility I'd accidentally slice off my arm. The throwing knives sounded more appealing than a sword, but there was still that threat of cutting myself somehow. I wasn't strong enough to lift an axe, and shields were also heavy, so both options were implausible. Even if I could fight and hold a giant piece of wood, the protection probably wouldn't do me any good.

So a bow and some arrows were it, even if I was stiff from using it already.

Without saying anything, Aragorn reached for a rock on the ground that looked to be about the size of his palm. "Take this and throw it as hard as you can."

Raising an eyebrow, I didn't question him as I accepted the rock. Shrugging off my quiver, I set it and the stupid bow on the ground. Facing the tree I so hopelessly failed at hitting, I narrowed my eyes and reared my arm back. With a rush of emotion, I hurled it with all of my might. Letting out an angry breath, I turned back to Aragorn without bothering to watch my throw fail to hit anything and held my arms out. "What was that for?"

"You needed to release some tension." He looked past me, and I watched as he smiled. He crossed his arms and nodded in the general direction of the tree. "You also needed to prove to yourself that you could hit something without thinking about it."

Sure enough, the rock was sitting a few inches in front of the tree as if it had bounced off of it.

My next words died in my throat, but my pride kept some shreds of a glower on my face.

"Pick up your bow and try again."

My bow within my grip again, I gritted my teeth and drew back another arrow, feeling the strain in my back. Some air escaped past my teeth as I let it fly, savoring the sting in my fingers. Finally, a smile reached my lips as I watch my arrow sink into one of the tree's lower branches.

I was by no means deadly, but this was a start.

* * *

It was early in the morning when I was shaken awake. Peering into the shadowy darkness, I could see Rose's green eyes shining at me. With a grunt, I shook her off, then threw the blankets away from me, swinging my legs over the side of my bed. My hands rubbing at my eyes, I murmured, "Is it time?"

"Oh, come on Upstate. You know it's time." For some reason, there was less of a bite to her words, but I didn't question it. I was too busy focusing on the pangs of fear that started rolling through my veins. I wasn't ready.

I wasn't ready to leave because I still couldn't defend myself. I wasn't ready to fight because I knew I'd freeze and get myself killed. I wasn't ready to die because my whole life, even in this world, was ahead of me. I just wasn't ready.

But Rose was grabbing my arm, pulling me up until I was standing. I waved my free arm at her, silently telling her to leave, but didn't bother to see if she was gone before I pulled my elvish nightgown over my head. The traveling clothes at the foot of my bed were folded in a nice pile. Despite the fear thundering in my heart, I pulled them on, trying not to think too hard about what wearing them meant for me.

By the time I was walking out the door, my meager belongings packed, I was still blinking the sleep from my eyes. Stifling a yawn, I let my feet take me to our meeting place. My footsteps signaling my presence, a few of the others noticed my approach. Gimli took one look at me and smirked. "You look a little tired there, lass. Too bad you can't sleep on your feet."

I wasn't expecting anyone other than Rose to address me, so I just smiled awkwardly, shifting the pack on my back. After a few moments, Rose came and stood by my side. Decked out in her usual black, she didn't say anything as she gave me a small wave. That was unusual.

It didn't take them much time to finish piling supplies on the pony, and not long after supplies were double-checked, we were off. I turned to Rose, murmuring, "This whole departure was a little anti-climactic."

She folded her arms and shifted her head to meet my gaze. "I agree, and I've been thinking about some things we could do to liven it up a little bit."

"Wait, what?" I gaped at her, completely shocked. "I'm actually okay with anti-climactic at this point."

Shrugging innocently, she turned to face the front again. "I'm not surprised. But before you get your panties all in a wad," she held up an arm, cutting me off before I could voice my objections, "it's too early now. They could easily stop us from leaving considering we're still in Rivendell."

"Allow me to be a little clearer then: I'm okay with anti-climactic for this entire trip." Giving her a pointed look, I raised an eyebrow.

"You're deluding yourself if you think this is going to just be a nice straight shot to Lorien. There are things out there that would probably take enjoyment in killing two perfectly adorable humans." Rolling my eyes, I fixed her with a glare. She just shrugged her shoulders again, looking back at me innocently.

I wasn't deluding myself, was I?


	6. Chapter 6

**AN: I was thinking that I wouldn't make it, but here's October's update (and it's a longer one too)! Enjoy!**

 **Lydwina Marie: Aww, thank you! Yep, it's a Legomance. I reread what I had written again before updating, so don't worry about it :) Thank you!**

 **Scylla's revenge: I don't know, you'll just have to wait and see :) In all seriousness, I've thought a lot about what do with Rose. That means a lot to me! Thank you so much :D**

* * *

Chapter 6

My feet were well past the point of being numb as I wearily plodded along beside Rose. It hadn't even been a week, and I already felt like I was dying. If we weren't moving forward, Aragorn was asking me if I wanted to get more training in. I wasn't stupid, so I said yes every time, but I'd always curse myself in the morning when I'd wake up to a stiff back and fingers.

Nothing about this trip was dreadfully exciting. We always woke up in the early hours of the morning, ate something small, and then we were on our way. The walking was constant until about lunch, and while we stopped to eat, the break never seemed long enough. After roughly twenty minutes of sitting, our trek would resume until the sun started setting. At that point, we tried to find a nice, relatively safe place to camp out. After another meal, we had some time to relax, but I always ended up falling asleep early. Part of me was waiting for the men to ask me to take a nightly watch, though, because I knew the rest of them were doing their fair share. So far, there was nothing, but that wasn't surprising. If I was being honest, it probably had something to do with the fact that I could barely shoot straight.

The only thing that made me feel better was the fact that Rose hadn't been offered a watch either.

On another note, I was making some tentative progress with my shooting skills, but that was the only exciting thing happening. These days, I could purposely hit specific things somewhere. My aim wasn't refined by any means, but I was hitting things more regularly. With my mad skills, I could get lucky and hit something vital in a fight.

At the same time, Aragorn was becoming more insistent that I also learn how to use a dagger. Every time he brought it up, I repeatedly told him it made me uncomfortable. That didn't stop him, and he kept pressing, saying that I'd eventually run out of arrows or someone would eventually get too close for me to use my bow. Regardless, I wasn't sure if I was ready. I preferred to keep my arms in the same condition they were in presently.

Meanwhile, Rose was getting deadlier with her throwing skills. She could fling her knives with half a thought, but I wondered if she was just showing off.

Boromir was also insisting that she learned how to wield other weapons. Unlike me, she was more than happy to learn.

I eyed the sword that was strapped to her back. Metallic clanking emanated from her as she walked. Brushing a strand of hair out of her face, she glanced over. "What're you looking at, Upstate?"

There was no fatigue in her eyes when she put one foot in front of the other. She was never out of breath during the long periods of ambling onwards over the endless terrain. If anything, there was a wicked gleam in the green of her eyes when we'd start walking again. Deep down, I knew I was never going to be like that. Even as I'd sensed us becoming a little closer — probably because we were the only females in the group — I was never going to be as strong as she was.

I shook my head. "Oh, it's nothing." Looking to my left, I watched as more moorland passed us by. The wind rustled my hair, and I absentmindedly brushed it out of my face.

"Oh come on, Upstate," Rose sighed, her voice lingering on the nickname I'd come to tolerate. "You and I both know that there's something."

Before I really thought about them, the words came bursting out of my mouth. "I don't have anything stupid to call you." It could have been a better lie — I couldn't have cared less about not having a nickname for her — but it was still true in a way. All I ever called her was Rose.

Rose looked at me, confusion gracing her features for a second before she turned to Pippin. "Hey, what's a good name for me?"

Pippin looked a little startled. "Is 'Rose' not good enough anymore?"

"Oh no, Rose is fine." She pursed her lips together, then sighed. "We're trying to think of a good name for Upstate to call me."

"Oh..." Pippin scrunched his eyebrows together, considering this, then turned to me. "I think I still like Rose."

"No, wait! Rose should definitely be called something cool!" Merry interjected, looking Rose up and down. "How about 'Death Maiden?'"

"Merry!" Rose shot him an incredulous look, but there was something in her tone that betrayed her true feelings. Part of her had enjoyed that.

Merry just shrugged. "You're just good at throwing those knives. Is it too much?"

I swallowed the sting in my throat and said, "I don't know. I think I like 'Obnoxious' better."

Rose turned to glare at me. "I am not!" Huffing, she crossed her arms over her chest.

"Oh, you're right. You're more of a 'Dramatic,'" I remarked, feeling a laugh escape my lips. A dejected pang of defeat flared in my chest.

Rolling her eyes, Rose turned to glare at me once more. "Oh, whatever, Upstate."

* * *

After another empty afternoon of trudging along, we finally stopped for the evening. Gandalf and Aragorn both thought we could squeeze more distance out of the daylight we had left, so instead of stopping at about our usual time, we walked a little while longer, much to my chagrin.

The heat from the fire warmed my tired legs, and while I was uncomfortably wedged between Rose and Sam, I was content to at least be sitting instead of walking. From what I could tell, Aragorn and Gandalf were conversing together a few paces away while the other hobbits quietly cackled about something. Gimli sat across from us with his arms crossed, quietly staring into the fire. The elf ‒ I'd been informed that elves were not the same as men ‒ with the light voice had wandered off shortly after the fire had been lit.

Gandalf grunted from where he stood with Aragorn, then met the man's eyes. "We must hold this course, west of the Misty Mountains, for forty days. If our luck holds, the Gap of Rohan will still be open to us." He paused and let out a sigh. "From there, our road turns east to Mordor."

Aragorn's voice was soft as he replied, "And what of the two women? Surely we can't just let them leave on their own."

Gandalf was silent for a moment, and I tensed. "We shall see what needs to be done as we draw nearer." Slowly, I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding.

I'd been feeling a little cramped all afternoon, and as I sat squeezed between two others, I suddenly felt the need for some space despite the fatigue in my legs. Quickly shooting to my feet, I absentmindedly jostled Rose and Sam with my sudden movement. I could feel Rose's eyes on me, so I called over my shoulder, "I just need some air." Thankfully, she shrugged and didn't say anything else.

Despite the gathering darkness, I wasn't exactly afraid of venturing out. I didn't plan on wandering far, and it was comforting knowing that Legolas was also out in the woods somewhere. Granted, I didn't know if I was worthy enough to be saved if I ran into trouble, but still.

Twigs and leaves crunched under my feet, and I let out a heavy sigh. Doubt ate at me as the odds of my survival over these next forty days swam through my head. There was no way, not with my poor archery skills. Not with Aragorn pressuring me to learn how to fight with a blade on top of everything else. The fact that he kept bringing it up was terrifying because it probably meant close combat was coming for me whether I wanted it to or not. Right now, my feelings were a strong and naïve "I'd rather not."

Running a hand through my unbound hair, I exhaled sharply, turning to look for the fire behind me. Even though I could still see the flickering flames, a cold pang of fear swept over me. Perhaps it was a little too far away for comfort, but it was still in clear view. Turning again, I was about to keep walking but found I couldn't move. There was a figure standing a few feet from me, their features mostly-hidden in the dark. From what I could see, they were armed.

Oh no.

Stumbling backward, my mind started racing. I needed to get back to the fire. I was so stupid for leaving the camp alone. No one knew where I was. If I started screaming, would the others reach me before it was too late? Was there any point in drawing my bow? My hands were shaking a little now, so my accuracy was probably going to be worse than normal. How did he sneak up on me?

The lean figure reached out to grab me, and I turned in on myself, cursing my stupid fight or flight instincts. Within moments and after little resistance on my part, my wrists were trapped in the person's grip. The touch woke something up in me, though, and I started pulling against the hands on me.

Was this really it? This didn't feel real.

"Katherine, please calm down."

Wait, I knew that light voice. Looking up, I started to relax as I saw Legolas staring down at me, his blue eyes peppered with concern and confusion. He relaxed his grip on my wrists and added, "Forgive me for startling you, but what are you doing out here? The woods are no place for a woman to be on her own."

Swallowing, I wasn't sure how to respond with adrenaline still rushing through my head. "Uh, I guess I just wanted some air."

He gave me a slight nod, releasing my wrists. "I understand, but you should return to the others." He gave me a look. "I'm actually heading there myself."

I opened my mouth to decline the implied offer, then realized he hadn't mentioned what he was doing out here. My lips tugging into a frown, I asked him as much.

His lips thinned. "I was merely scouting the area. Come," he inclined his head to me as he walked away, "I need to report back to Aragorn."

The adrenaline fading away, I had no choice but to fall in step beside him.

* * *

After another long bout of walking, we were finally at a stopping point. Sam, huddled around the fire, was tending to some food while Boromir was teaching Merry and Pippin how to use a sword. I gave them all the credit in the world for choosing that weapon. Aragorn was sitting near them, occasionally calling out suggestions as he smoked.

Sighing, I leaned my back up against a rock, letting the faint breeze tug at my loose hair. Gimli, of all people, had offered to braid it, but I awkwardly declined, feeling as though his thick fingers weaving through my hair would be a bit odd. Rose, who was currently sitting beside me, had laughed when I told her about it but offered to fix my hair for me later.

Out of nowhere, the dwarf's voice rang out, "If anyone was to ask for my opinion, which I note they're not, I'd say we were taking the long way 'round." Rose rolled her eyes at me, but I just pursed my lips and turned to look at him. "Gandalf, we could pass through the Mines of Moria." Gandalf's eyebrows furrowed, but Gimli went on, "My cousin Balin would give us a royal welcome."

"No, Gimli," Gandalf said without hesitation, "I would not take the road through Moria unless I had no other choice."

His stern tone and expression made my blood run cold. What was so bad about Moria?

"That sounds a little ominous," I murmured to Rose, silently wondering if she'd have answers.

She looked at me, her usual smirk on her face. "What, does that scare you?" Apparently not then.

Sniffing, I fixed her with a look. "Yes, as it should."

A small scuffle drew our attention away from each other. Down on the ground, Merry and Pippin had tackled Boromir, yelling things like "Get him!" and "For the Shire!" Boromir had a look of pure shock on his face that quickly morphed into amusement. For a moment, I looked past the doubts I had harbored about him. Chuckling, my mouth eased into a small grin as I watched them. At least, until Sam stole my attention away again.

"What is that?" His eyes were narrowed, and his voice was a blend of confusion and curiosity.

Gimli was quick to respond, his hands gripping his belt. "Nothing. It's just a wisp of cloud."

Down on the ground, Boromir was standing upright, and he and Aragorn were completely alert now. Squinting into the distance, he muttered, "It's moving fast." Letting out a breath, he continued observing it before muttering, "Against the wind."

A noise that sounded like faint squawking filled my ears, and Legolas cried, "Crebain from Dunland!" That didn't mean much to me, but due to the immediate concern that was rolling off everyone in waves, I quickly picked up on the fact that this was not good.

"Hide!" Aragorn shouted before running off to get the others moving.

The next few moments passed in a blur. My brain processed images of landscapes flowing together as Rose pulled me away and sounds of shouts to find cover. Before I really realized it, Rose and I were sheltered beneath some bushes and a tall, dusty rock.

I vaguely heard myself murmur, "I don't like this." Faintly, I registered Rose shushing me, but I still thought it was important to note.

All was silent for a few seconds, and I entertained the possibility that everyone was getting paranoid over nothing, but then the sky above us filled the sounds of screeching birds. They circled our little encampment, their squawking reminiscent of crows. Closing my eyes and feeling very much like a coward, I just concentrated on my breathing. A few seconds were filled with their screams. I took a breath in. A few more were filled with those same screams. I let it out. Over and over, my focus remained on my breathing.

Just as suddenly as they had arrived, they were gone. Unless I was just tricking myself into believing we were fine, the strange silence around us seemed to indicate that we were okay now. Peeking my eyes open, I tentatively looked up and sagged in relief when I saw nothing but blue skies above us now.

Gandalf spoke as he left his cover a few feet to our left. "Spies of Saruman. The passage south is being watched." He took a breath as I pulled myself out of the bushes. "We must take the Pass of Caradhras." As I straightened up, I noticed the majority of the group was staring at a mountain directly behind us.

Fighting to slow my beating heart, I took a look for myself and felt my heart skip a beat. As badly as I didn't want the birds to kill me, I didn't want to die of hypothermia on a giant mountain either.


	7. Chapter 7

**AN: Here's November's update!**

 **Woman of Letters: Thank you! I'm glad it's realistic and that you like it :) Playing the two off of each other is honestly a lot of fun to write. Thank you again!**

 **Lydwina Marie: Thank you so much! I try my best to stay on the realistic side of things, so that means a lot :) That's alright (it gives me reassurance that I didn't create a Marry Sue), and I'll bear that in mind for future chapters. Thanks again!**

 **Goddessofwarriorcats: Don't worry, I intend to finish this one :) I'm happy you're excited (seriously, it makes me happy that I'm not the only one). Thank you!**

* * *

Chapter 7

Everything was cold, and it had been a while since I'd felt my nose. All my life, I'd never been a huge fan of the snow, preferring to look at it from the warmth of my bedroom, so trudging up a gigantic mountain that was covered in the stuff added a new layer of misery to the walking. While this world had some things they used to ward off the cold, cloaks were nothing compared to winter coats, snow pants, snow boots, and good mittens. Wrapping my meager cloak tighter around my shoulders, I let out a groan of despair at the current situation.

Keeping my eyes low to protect them from the blinding light radiating off the snow, I couldn't see who was leading us, let alone who I was following. I could see their legs, but with the dizzying white of the snow and the subzero temperatures, I couldn't pair the legs with a person. It was too cold to think properly, but my best guess was that it was Rose or maybe a hobbit; however, there was nothing fun about making blind assumptions.

Behind me, a grunt rang out, cutting through the chilly breeze. Faster than I could process, I turned around and watched as Frodo tumbled backward. Someone — likely Aragorn, from the sound of his voice — called out, "Frodo!" When the poor hobbit came to a stop at Aragorn's feet, the man gently helped him up. Frodo slowly sat up, brushing the snow off of him, before his hand shot to the collar of his shirt, much to my confusion.

Did he get some snow in his shirt? If so, he had all of my sympathies, because, despite the fact that the snow was super cold, it absolutely burned when it touched any exposed skin.

Snapping myself out of my thoughts, I noticed that Frodo had his attention fixed on something in the distance. Aragorn was looking in the same direction, so I decided to look, too. All I could see was Boromir, but for some reason, he was crouched down, seemingly gathering something in his hands. I braced myself, waiting for him to start throwing snow. It seemed out of character for him to do so, but I didn't want to take any risks. If snow was going to start flying, I didn't want to be a part of it, despite my ever-improving aim.

Instead, Boromir righted himself and held something shiny in front of his face. For a second, a sort of seriousness filled the air, and the only sound to be heard was the gentle whisper of the wind. All of us were staring straight at him, but oddly enough, he didn't meet our collective gaze. Rather, he stared at the chain in his hands and the ring dangling at the end of it.

The tension of the situation was starting to make a lot of sense.

Aragorn was the first to speak, "Boromir." His voice, full of control, was much calmer than I would have expected, given the concentration anxiety rolling around the atmosphere.

Boromir didn't look up when he spoke, "It is a strange fate that we should suffer so much fear and doubt over so small a thing." Falling completely silent, he went on to eye the jewelry in his hand for a few heavy moments, his mouth parted ever so slightly. When he whispered again, it was so faint that I almost missed it, "Such a little thing."

"Boromir!" Aragorn's voice was filled with more urgency than before. To my surprise, Boromir lowered the chain within his grip and looked at the other man. Aragorn went on, but there was an unsettling look in his eyes, "Give the Ring to Frodo."

As if he'd been awakened from a dream, Boromir's mouth parted, the light in his eyes shifting. He exhaled through his mouth, then slowly walked towards Frodo, the ring swinging from the chain as he walked with it outstretched. "As you wish," he muttered, his voice level. Frodo quickly grabbed it from him, clutching it tightly in his fist. As Boromir withdrew, he shrugged. "I care not." Letting out a chuckle that seemed a little forced, he ruffled Frodo's hair before turning to go on his way, adjusting the shield across his back.

Aragorn's next movement was so subtle that I almost missed it. As he watched Boromir turn away, he slowly released his grip on the hilt of his sword.

* * *

Needless to say, the snow situation had somehow gotten worse. There were countless flakes of it blowing in my face, even as I'd pulled my hood over my head, straining my neck as I lowered my face. Our going was much slower now, which made sense as I was up to my hips in snow. If I thought losing feeling in my nose was bad, no longer being able to feel my toes was so much worse. I couldn't find the energy to worry about losing my feet to frostbite, though, with the blizzard raging around us. Snowflake after snowflake bit into me, leaving behind a stinging feeling that I knew I wouldn't forget. If I ever made it back home, I was going to spend all of my future winters holed up in my room.

It wasn't necessarily all bad though. Wading through the snow and pushing it out of the way with my hips was something I never thought I would experience before, yet the coolness of the snow had long since made my sides numb. After trudging through it for what felt like years, I started to feel like I was slogging through pudding. I mean, I'd never tried such a thing, but I imagined that it was something like this.

The hobbits were also secretly amusing to look at since they all had to be carried. As the snow around us was roughly their heights, they wouldn't have been able to move at all. I snickered a little just picturing it, then coughed the humor down before anyone could hear me. In all seriousness, it wasn't a good idea for them to be walking. The more I thought about it, the more I realized it was probably a little humiliating for them, but then again, Rose and I had been told to stay in the middle of the group so we wouldn't fall behind. Rose had scoffed at this, but I was relatively fine with it.

The only person who didn't seem fazed by all of the snow was Legolas. Lifting my eyes a little, I squinted through the whirling storm of white and grey to stare at the elf. For reasons beyond my comprehension, he was able to walk on top of the snow. Nimbly, he gently put one foot in front of the other, narrowing his eyes a little to keep the snow out of them. I drifted off for a few minutes, lost in thought about how he was seemingly breaking physics, but snapped back to reality when I was elbowed from behind.

Turning my head ever so slightly, I could barely see Rose glaring at me. "Why'd you stop all of a sudden?" Looking past me, she smirked, but the whole expression looked a little bitter. "Ah, I understand. You were staring at Legolas, weren't you?"

Feeling my face go hot, I stumbled to defend myself. Feeling completely embarrassed because she was going to get the wrong idea, I sucked in a breath and tried to sort through my swimming thoughts. She totally threw me off guard with the confrontation, since being confronted made me super uncomfortable. It wasn't what it looked like!

Just then, Legolas spoke, "There is a fell voice on the air." Speak of the devil. Giving Rose a pitiful glare, I tried to swallow down my fear and refused to answer her, yet in my refusal, my panic only seemed to grow.

By the time I turned around again, the person in front of me had stopped, because Gandalf was yelling, "It's Saruman!" For the life of me, I couldn't remember who that was if I knew him at all. Was it the guy who'd sent the bird after us?

There was a cracking noise directly above us, drawing everyone's attention. Whatever it was, I knew it wasn't going to be good, but my curiosity got the better of me. Tipping my head back, I squinted up at the sky.

Saruman was definitely not our friend. As I thought about it more, I was growing more certain that he'd been the bird guy.

A tumble of rocks was falling above our heads, and based on their trajectory, they were headed straight for us. The amount of panic I was feeling increased exponentially as they smashed into our ledge, shaking the ground beneath us. Sucking in a breath, I leaned back as one struck the strip of ground a few feet in front of where I was standing. Out of nowhere, there was an arm across my chest, and when I looked to see where the arm came from, I met Rose's eyes. She gave me a weird, almost relieved, smile.

Honestly, it was nice to see that she cared at least a little, however surprising the notion was.

Aragorn's cry tore my attention away from her. "He's trying to bring down the mountain! Gandalf, we must turn back!"

I looked over at Gandalf and watched as his expression hardened. Shaking his head, he cried, "No!" Forcing his way out of the snow trench to stand beside Legolas, he steadied himself against the wind. When he spoke again, I couldn't understand what he was saying, but it sounded powerful. His voice echoed off one of the surrounding mountainsides, and my mouth dropped open despite how dire our situation had become.

This continued on for a short while, and through the murkiness of it, I thought I could detect another voice as Legolas had said. It seemed to be deeper and have a darker tone to it, but unless it was merely Gandalf's echo I was hearing, there was someone else out there. Scrunching my brows together, I tried to sort out what exactly I was perceiving.

Just then, a bolt of lightning flashed over our heads, and I was torn from my thoughts. Looking up again, I watched as a giant pile of snow started falling towards us. To my left, I heard Rose gasp, saying, "Oh shi-"

My world suddenly was filled with silence and the color dark grey. I couldn't make sense of anything, until the reality of being suddenly buried alive set in. My pulse raced the moment I put together what was going on, and I began kicking my feet and moving my arms around, desperate to get out. It was oddly warm, which wasn't what I was expecting given that it was snow, but the warmth made everything stuffy, uncomfortable, and all the scarier.

I was running out of oxygen. I was running out, and I wasn't going to get free, and I wasn't going to—

I felt my hand burst through the snow and cut into the biting snowstorm. I almost wept in relief, but quickly remembered that the tears would probably freeze and burn my face. Shimmying my way up, I dug my way out until my head cleared the top of the snow. Once most of my upper body was free, I sucked in a large, cold breath, then choked on its biting chill.

As I looked around, everyone else was popping up out of the snow. Cursing myself a fool, it dawned on me that none of them would have left me to die buried in a pile of snow. They were all pretty strong, so of course, they would have gotten themselves out. Maybe it would have been humiliating for me to need rescuing, but it was nice to know that they wouldn't have forgotten me.

Boromir pulled me from my thoughts. "We must get off the mountain! Make for the Gap of Rohan, and take the west road to my city!"

None of the things he was saying made sense in my fear-addled brain, but Aragorn was quick to shut that idea down. "The Gap of Rohan takes us too close to Isengard!"

"We cannot pass over the mountain," Gimli said, his voice so low I could barely hear him. "Let us go under it. Let us go through the Mines of Moria." Again, with the suggestion about Moria. Sneaking a quick look at Gandalf, I noticed that he'd gone unnervingly quiet. His brow was drawn, and his eyes had a glint of what looked like fear in them.

After a long pause, Gandalf declared, "Let the Ring-Bearer decide." As if I wasn't cold enough, his tone sent a chill through me. There was obviously something he wasn't telling us, and that scared me more than I was willing to admit.

Frodo looked up quickly, clearly startled, but said nothing. He then shot a quick look at Sam, and when I looked over at the gentle hobbit, something unreadable passed through his eyes. Another heavy moment passed, and Gandalf asked, almost too quickly, "Frodo?"

Looking a bit conflicted, he declared, "We will go through the mines."

Gandalf was silent for a moment, but his expression didn't give anything away. Barely moving his mouth, he grunted, "So be it." His tone was a little tight, which sent a sharp pang through my chest. I hadn't known Gandalf all that long, but this was unlike anything he'd ever done before. What was so bad about Moria?


	8. Chapter 8

**AN: Happy New Year! Here's December's update, but I apologize for being a day late. I'm worried it might be a little slow, but I hope you enjoy it :)**

 **Goddessofwarriorcats: I hate to do that (or do I?), but here's some closure! Thank you!**

 **Lydwina Marie: Aw I'm pleased to hear that you liked it! Thank you for all of your support! :)**

* * *

Chapter 8

The sharp crunch of stones underneath my feet was the only sound I could hear, save for a few grunts and heavy sighs. With each of my footfalls, I was acutely aware of the small rocks digging into the thinning material of my boots. I'd noticed the bottoms had started deteriorating a few days ago, but it was still just a minor discomfort. With that being said, the stones weren't causing me any pain, but I knew that wouldn't last for much longer. Perhaps it was all the snow that did them in.

When Frodo decided to head through the mines, I had started singing some silent praises. As the landscape morphed from white to grey, though, that thankfulness turned sour. While the mountain had been entirely unpleasant and uncomfortable, it hadn't been eerie either. Looking out across the rocky terrain, I scanned my surroundings and frowned at how creepy and dead everything seemed. A dark but quiet stream flowed in the distance, and there were sickly roots clinging to the rocks scattered around us.

Documenting the environment was something I'd picked up from Aragorn. Using a bow required the archer's full attention because one needed to know where the rest of his or her company was so as to not hit them. Needless to say, I needed to be on my guard a lot.

With a strained huff of breath, I gave Rose a sidelong glance. While my blood was recoiling at how unsettling everything was, Rose's was seemingly rejoicing in it. Looking deeper into her eyes, I was almost blinded at how bright they were. This sort of mystery was probably just another thrill on this wild ride she hopped on. I tried not to roll my eyes at her.

Sam, the hobbit walking in front of me, stopped suddenly, almost causing me to knock him over. A slight twinge of heat blossomed on my face, but I was determined to swallow down my embarrassment, resolving not to let Rose make fun of me for it; however, that notion worked a lot better in theory as my stomach burned with unpleasant humiliation.

Gimli's whisper of awe reached my ears, "The walls of Moria." It was like he couldn't quite believe it himself, and his body stilled at the sight of it.

I let out a shallow breath, my timid soul now feeling very afraid and rather horrified. All I could see was a very tall wall of solid rock that stretched on for as far as I could see. If this was Moria, where was the entrance? Hopefully, we weren't going to be scaling the wall. At the mere thought of it, my fingers stiffened. Clinging to the side of a wall and praying that I wouldn't fall to my inevitable death weren't any activities I found myself eager to partake in.

I was so lost in my thoughts about how horrible scaling the wall seemed that I didn't see the tree branch hanging in my way until it hit me in the face. My face probably a deeper red, I kept my eyes trained on Sam's back, failing to ignore Rose's snicker. Grinding my teeth, I debated snapping at her but eventually decided that it wasn't worth it. I didn't want to make a scene over something so stupid.

As we got closer to the giant stone wall, we came to a stop. For once, I managed to stop with them. A small and slightly silly glimmer of satisfaction coursed through me.

Up at front of the group, Gandalf stretched out a hand, running his fingers over the surface of the rocky wall. Immediately, my stomach plummeted. Was he looking for a ledge to grab? Mumbling under his breath, I couldn't quite catch everything he was saying, but as I looked at him longer, it seemed like he had forgotten that the rest of us were even there. Still muttering, I thought I heard him say, "It mirrors only starlight and moonlight." Turning around rather quickly, he lifted his face to look into the sky.

My eyebrows scrunched together in confusion because this had nothing to do with climbing. There wasn't anything extraordinary in the sky either — just the moon and a few wisps of cloud. My brow knitted together even more at that, the importance of the moon escaping me until I lowered my gaze to the wall once more.

Appearing on the once bare rock were sweeping silver lines. Ornate in design, they laced around the rock, curling delicately to create something I couldn't quite decipher. Squinting at it, I tried to make out the design.

Gandalf's voice echoed off the stone before us. "It reads, 'The Doors of Durin, Lord of Moria. Speak, friend, and enter.'"

Try as I might to resist it, my jaw dropped. It couldn't be.

Behind me, Merry let out a small breath, asking with a voice full of curiosity, "What do you suppose that means?"

Without skipping a beat or even turning around, Gandalf had a response. "Oh, it's quite simple." As he spoke, his words started spilling out of his mouth faster and faster. "If you are a friend, you speak the password and the doors will open." Raising his staff, he pressed the gnarled end to the door and started uttering strange words I didn't understand.

Shifting my weight from one hip to the other, I waited for him to finish, a little eager to see what would happen. A small breeze blew off the water to my right, sweeping some of my hair into my face. Vaguely, the need for it to be braided crossed my mind again, but that thought faded to the background. Tucking the strands behind my ear, I continued to watch the wizard in silence with everyone else.

After a few more moments, Gandalf stopped chanting. Shifting my eyes to the stone wall, I watched as nothing happened. No low rumbling of stone grinding against stone. No dull thudding of pebbles falling to the ground.

His staff now at his side, Gandalf drew closer to the outline of the door and pressed his shoulder against it. Shoving with all of his might, he pushed against the rock, probably checking to see if it had unlocked silently. Maybe it was an anti-climactic door.

As Gandalf withdrew, I realized there was nothing. It was still locked.

Turning away from the door, I saw Rose walking away. For some reason, she was headed to a tree covered in dangling strings of olive-colored vines several feet away. Her hand came to rest at her hip, then with one fluid motion, a knife was in her hand. With that same sort of grace, she'd brought the blade up to her ear and hurled it towards the trunk. I turned away before seeing where her knife landed.

Gandalf's voice started echoing around the clearing again, and if I didn't know any better, his tone was glossed with a little frustration. Sighing, I supposed there was nothing better to do than just wait patiently. Walking toward the stone wall, I rested my back against it. To my pleasant surprise, it was quite comfortable. With a slight chuckle, I reasoned that this was only because I was used to sleeping on a bedroll on rough terrain.

Perhaps that was a good thing to take away from this quest. I could sleep on basically anything now. A small smile gracing my lips, I remembered my first few nights sleeping on the forest floor. The soft grass was incredibly uncomfortable back then, but now I would give anything to sleep in a forest again. These days, I was successfully snoozing away over tiny stones. If that wasn't personal growth then I didn't know what was.

It was too bad my fighting skills couldn't develop that quickly. Sucking on my teeth, I tried to ward off the tightening feeling in my chest. Strangely enough, the fact that my sleeping habits had adapted gave me some hope that my use of weapons could also improve. It was just Rose and her infuriating ability to adapt quickly. I sometimes worried that the others were secretly comparing us and had determined that I was the weaker one. Scanning my surroundings again, my eyes fell on Aragorn.

Well, everyone excluding that man probably thought I was weak. Unless Aragorn was a giant liar, which I doubted quite greatly, he didn't think I was weak. He knew how badly I wanted to be able to defend myself. He knew that I didn't want to be a burden. I really hoped I wouldn't let him down.

Movement off to my left pulled me back to reality. One of my palms slammed against the wall in my sudden shock, but when I realized it was just Gandalf sitting down, grumbling things to himself, I immediately relaxed, moving to rub my sore hand.

Instead of the air falling into silence again, Frodo stood up and started peering at the door. "It's a riddle," he said finally, his eyes narrowing as he looked over the lines of text above the door. "'Speak "friend" and enter.'" Without even giving Gandalf a glance, the hobbit asked, "What's the Elvish word for 'friend?'"

Gandalf's eyes went wide with sudden understanding as he uttered, "'Mellon.'"

With a great cracking sound, stone rubbed against stone, and the doors to Moria started to open. As I watched the entrance reveal itself, a few pebbles fell to the ground. Not so anti-climactic after all. They swung outward on their own accord, gaining the attention of the remaining group members.

Like a moth attracted to light so was Gandalf to the open doorway. Shoving myself off the wall, I followed his movements like a sheep. Filing into the immense darkness of the newly opened cavern, I stifled a shudder as I passed over the threshold. Rose could call me a wuss, but something didn't feel right about this place. Part of me hoped it was nothing more than a silly fear of the abysmal dark, but as I went in a few more paces, my foot hit something, snapping whatever it was in half. Tensing, I couldn't quite place the noise, but I knew I didn't like it.

Gimli's voice echoed off the walls in the confined grotto. "Soon, Master Elf, you will enjoy the fabled hospitality of the dwarves. Roaring fires, malt beer, ripe meat off the bone!" We paused a few feet inside the mines, and I took this time to look at Gimli. Why did he feel the need to call out Legolas? It seemed a bit unnecessary because weren't we all were going to be guests of the dwarves? "This, my friend, is the home of my cousin Balin." Off to my right, Gandalf conjured up some light. "And they call it a mine." More loudly this time, Gimli repeated himself. "A mine!"

Taking a good look around, my blood started to freeze as I realized what I'd broken earlier. It had been someone's brittle femur. I'd broken a dead person's thigh bone. My breaths grew more shallow and pretty soon, I felt like I was floating. In the far reaches of my mind, I heard Boromir declare, "This is no mine. It's a tomb." Fighting to even out my breathing, I tried to ignore Gimli's sudden wails of sorrow and breathed from my stomach, feeling myself slowly fall back to the ground. If I didn't think about the fact that there were dead beings lying all around me, everything would be just fine.

It was like being on a cliff: I just couldn't ever look down.

Something wooden clattered to the ground, and Legolas's trilling voice echoed off the walls. Ahead of me, a blade being drawn slid against its scabbard. Boromir's voice filled the cavern once again. "We make for the Gap of Rohan. We never should have come here. Now, get out of here. Get out!"

Behind us, there was a yell that sounded suspiciously like one of Frodo's. My eyes focusing on the doorway, I noticed that the hobbit was just gone. To make matters worse, the other hobbits were all huddled underneath the stone frame, each one yelling his name with fear in their tones. With a jerk of his head, Sam whirled around, crying, "Strider!"

I didn't give myself the time to ponder what in the world that meant, because my feelings were all sorts of confused. I felt sick to my stomach, but I also wanted to see what was going on. I didn't want to stay in the cave, but based on all of the thrashing going on, I didn't want to go outside either. My curiosity started to get the best of me, and I timidly took a step towards the open doorway.

Something warm wrapped around my arm. Stiffening, I flinched as Rose pulled me to a stop, hissing, "What do you think you're doing?"

"I just want to see what's going on," I yelled back so she could hear me over all the noise. I wasn't stupid enough to think I could help.

Whipping her head to look towards the doorway, Rose looked between me and the threshold. "Are you crazy? You'd only get in their way." Pulling me back, she forced me behind her when she deemed us a safe distance away. "I wasn't even going to go out there."

Peeking over Rose's shoulder, I strained to look out the opening. My view was terrible from this distance, but every so often a blur of color would run in front of the doorway. There were also things flying in the air which didn't make any sense.

What the heck was out there?

There was some more yelling, but I could hear someone giving an order to head into the mines. Shortly after the call, people started sprinting into the cavern. A rush of relief went through me until I realized they were probably still running from something.

Rose shared the same thought, and she gripped my wrist again. "Move those legs, Upstate!" She yanked on my arm painfully for emphasis. Something subconscious kicked in, and while I knew I was running, I didn't really feel it. Shooting a glance over my shoulder, I felt the air rush out of my lungs from shock and not because I still wasn't super good at cardio.

Spindly tentacles were flying in different directions, and while I couldn't get a decent look at the source of the slimy limbs, the bizarre nature of it was more than enough to give me more motivation to run. The only other thing I did catch was the thing's eerily large eyes staring right through me.

The ground started rumbling beneath my feet, knocking my knees together. Shortly after, an ominous breaking sound cut through the air. With a great gust of wind, rocks crumbled and hit the ground, blotting out the few shreds of moonlight, but we were still running, plunging ourselves into that far-reaching darkness. By the time the commotion had stopped, we were sealed in.

Absolute silence. If I hadn't known there were people mere inches to my right and left, I would have thought I was alone.

Then, Gandalf's familiarity broke through the silence. Fighting to sag from relief because we weren't dead, I turned towards the sound of his voice. "We now have but one choice." With a dull thud, Gandalf conjured up the same light from before and started walking. "We must face the long dark of Moria. Be on your guard. There are older and fouler things than orcs in the deep places of the world." Aragorn ushered me in front of him, his stained sword still drawn, leaving me to wonder if what we were to face would be worse than the thing that sealed us in here. "Quietly now. It's a four-day journey to the other side. Let us hope that our presence may go unnoticed.

With my thoughts all in an uproar, I banished them to the pit of my stomach, feeling very squeamish about it all. I didn't want to know what Gandalf meant about going unnoticed. I didn't want to think about those eyes again. I didn't want to face Moria's darkness.

A large part of me just wanted to go home.


	9. Chapter 9

**AN: Get yourselves ready because this is a long one! My original plan was to just have two chapters of Moria because I want to move on, but then this chapter started getting really long, so now there's going to be more. Now with that said, here's January's update! With enough luck, maybe I'll be able to stay on schedule this year :D**

 **Goddessofwarriorcats: It is a shame right now, but don't worry, there will be some improvement in the coming chapters :) Thank you, and I hope you enjoy this!**

 **Guest: Aww thank you! That really means a lot. I didn't intend for them to be so drastically different in the beginning, but I'm happy with how the two of them have turned out so far. I promise some change is coming, don't worry :) Oh no need to apologize, it made my day! Thanks again!**

 **25 Slingshots: I want to thank you for giving me some constructive criticism (as well as the compliment - both are greatly appreciated on my end :D ). Your question is a good one, which reminds me of a comment I saw someone make somewhere about how the world of LOTR is a patriarchal society that wasn't going to just let some random women be part of a quest. With that in mind, I did give some (but probably not enough) resistance to Rose and Katherine joining. However, to answer your question, the best I can come up with is that Elrond wanted Rose out of his hair. That probably isn't a great answer, because like you mentioned, I am glossing over some fine-detail mechanics a little in order to ease up on the plot, but sadly that's what I've got.**

 **Now for your next review, I am slowly trying to make Katherine a stronger character. I don't want to rush it and make everything too easy for her, so I'm trying to find a happy medium for her development. With all that being said, I sincerely hope I didn't offend you as that wasn't my intention at all (as tone tends to get lost in text, I hope mine doesn't sound aggressive), and I honestly do appreciate your feedback on my story :)**

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Chapter 9

 _My breath caught in my throat. Something was digging into my side. Looking down, my blood froze, singing with fear as something wrapped itself around my waist. Something awful and spindly and—_

Opening my eyes, I sat up and found not the creature with the eyes staring at me. Rose looked me up and down in concern. "You good?" Nodding, I swallowed and ran a hand through my hair. Not looking entirely convinced, she said simply, "We're leaving soon." Slowly, as if she didn't want to startle me, she started rolling up her bedroll.

It had been a dream.

I couldn't tell how much time had passed since we were so brutally trapped in this mine of darkness and death, but from what I could guess, it had been at least a day. Our signals for telling the time were mutual hunger pangs for eating and overwhelming fatigue for sleeping. I had a sneaking suspicion that Gandalf somehow knew the time but deemed it unnecessary to adhere to strictly. As a result, it seemed like we pressed on for longer walking periods. I was a little bitter about it.

Merry walked over and silently handed me my meager breakfast. Over the last few days, it had started dwindling, but because we didn't have our pony anymore, all of the supplies we had needed to be carried. Regardless, if I didn't know any better, we were going to run out of food here shortly. Giving him a small nod of thanks, I accepted the food, surprisingly feeling a little better now despite the events yesterday and the dream I'd had.

I couldn't get that thing out of my head. Gimli had called it "The Watcher of Moria" and spent a few minutes describing it to me. He'd ended the conversation by saying he was glad we'd been out of the way and that I was lucky to have gotten such a poor view of it. The rational part of my consciousness wholeheartedly agreed with him.

"Why didn't you wake me earlier?" I asked between bites of my sad breakfast. Rose merely shrugged, then nodded in Gandalf's direction. He'd started on his way again, meaning we were off. Giving Rose a sideways look, I figured there was more to her shrug but didn't think it important enough to press about.

Speaking of Gandalf, I'd noticed between my various levels of exhaustion that he was more on edge now that we were deeper in the mine. Unless I was imagining it, of course, because he was usually subtle. In my opinion, we'd been rather quiet for the most part, so I didn't know what he was worried about. I mean, I didn't know what we were hiding from or how good their hearing was, and gauging a noise level is rather subjective between species. Based on my human standards, though, we were doing a pretty good job.

In all of my thinking and eating, we reached a staircase that was steeper and wider than the other ones we'd come across. Almost letting a groan of displeasure slip between my lips, I tried not to think about how sore my knees were going to be or how high the staircase went. Instead, I tried to focus on keeping my footing. I was no expert on the nature of mines, but for some reason, the stairs were a bit slick. It wasn't like it rained down here or anything, so why were they slippery? Running my fingers along one of the steps, I prayed I wasn't putting my hand through a puddle of blood. When I pulled my fingers back, a wave of relief crashed over me. It was just really dusty.

Pretty soon, I was at the top, my knees protesting like I had thought they would. However, a relatively flat and open section of rock greeted us instead of a winding pathway like usual. Some bigger rocks lined the perimeter, making the area look like a decent place to camp. It was truly a shame that we had only just started walking. Despite the nice looking place, a renewed sense of tension filled the air.

Standing before us were three identical doorways, and Gandalf was frowning at all of them. Looking to my left, I met Rose's sidelong glance. Was there a problem? A moment of silence ensued until Gandalf's voice echoed around us ever so softly, "I have no memory of this place."

Well, this was not good. Breaking my eye contact with Rose, I shifted my attention to Gimli. He'd said that his relatives used to live here, so maybe he would know where to go? Unfortunately, he offered no help or suggestions to get us out of our situation, but after a moment, I supposed that made sense. I didn't know how to get around Toronto on my own despite going there a lot to visit my grandmother and cousins.

Sighing, Gandalf walked up to a rock located in front of the doorways and abruptly sat on it, his back facing the rest of us. That action seemed harmless enough, but when he took off his hat and gently laid it beside him, I knew we had a bigger problem on our hands. Suddenly emotionally weary, I walked over to sit by Rose, brushing a strand of my hair behind my ear. Wordlessly, she started to braid it for me.

For a long time, no one said anything. Aragorn, a pipe currently in hand, and Boromir made a small fire and were now sitting near the steep stairs, both staring off into space. Legolas stood a foot behind them, leaning against a rock, his eyes searching the fire. The hobbits were all seated on the floor, their whispers more quiet for once.

The feeling of Rose's fingers in my hair faded from the forefront of my mind. It was those eyes. They kept coming back to haunt me, almost like that thing could sense that I wasn't supposed to be here, but here I was regardless. All I could do was hope that I wouldn't meet my untimely demise in this place.

A sharp rush of air escaped through my teeth. That's why I needed to be able to defend myself. That fight had been a small taste of the dangers lurking in this realm, no matter how temporary I hoped my current situation was. I couldn't keep relying on other people to save me, to protect me as well as Frodo. It was probably alright for now since our group was so large, but if the others were ever to start dying, then I needed to be able to hold my own.

A sudden question from Pippin pulled me from my musings. "Are we lost?"

There was the question all of us were thinking but didn't dare say out loud.

"No," Merry answered a little too quickly.

Pippin whispered back with as the same amount of hesitation, "I think we are." It was all I could do to keep from wincing. Did he not realize that Gandalf had ears?

Merry shushed him a little harshly, then replied, "Gandalf's thinking."

"Merry?" Pippin asked after a second.

"What?" Merry sounded like he was starting to lose his patience.

His voice meeker this time, Pippin stated, "I'm hungry."

Of course he was. I sucked in a deep breath before letting it all out. Rose, who'd finished my braid by now, looked at me. "You sure you're good, Upstate?"

"I just want to get out of here." That was mostly it. I couldn't train down here because the rocks would blunt my arrowheads. There was also the fact that they'd just ricochet off the unyielding walls. I didn't have good enough aim to lodge an arrow into any of the cracks in the stone, let alone consistently draw the bowstring back perfectly.

Rose nodded. "I'll second that. I've never been one for caves." Rubbing her palms on her legs, she sighed. "I'm ready for the free air again."

Before I could say anything else, Frodo's frantic whisper interrupted our discussion. "There's something down there." When I peered at him more closely, I could see small amounts of fear growing in his eyes.

Without even turning around, Gandalf muttered, "It's Gollum."

Gollum? Just hearing the name sent a shiver down my spine, even though I had no idea what or who that was. Perhaps it was the way Gandalf said it, but I didn't think I wanted to meet this Gollum.

"Gollum?" What looked like recognition appeared in Frodo's eyes as well.

Still facing the doorways, Gandalf gave a little more, his voice remaining relatively monotone, "He's been following us for three days."

Just like that, Frodo's words filled with shock. "He escaped the dungeons of Barad-dûr?"

"Escaped," Gandalf mused, his voice ringing ominously in my ears, "or was set loose." Finally, he turned to look at Frodo, but in doing so, I could no longer see his face. After a slight pause, Gandalf started talking again, his voice no less scary than it was before, "He hates and loves the Ring as he hates and loves himself. He will never be rid of his need for it."

Meeting Gandalf's eyes levelly, Frodo squared his shoulders, blurting, "It's a pity Bilbo didn't kill him when he had the chance." His voice had hardened significantly by the time he finished speaking.

"Pity?" Surprise filled Gandalf's voice. "It was pity that stayed Bilbo's hand." His face was still turned away from me, so I couldn't know for sure, but I assumed that Gandalf was a little shocked that Frodo didn't know this fact. The hobbit knew more than me, though, because I had no idea who Bilbo was either.

Gandalf's voice, a little softer now, rumbled on after another pause, "Many that live deserve death. Some that die deserve life." Letting out a breath, he let his words wash over Frodo before asking, "Can you give it to them, Frodo?" Frodo's eyes fell from Gandalf's face, and that action alone was answer enough. "Do not be too eager to deal out death and judgment. Even the very wise cannot see all ends." Gandalf let out a sigh. "My heart tells me that Gollum has some part to play yet, for good or ill, before this is over." He trailed off, his voice turning dark again. Almost as if he was giving us all a moment, Gandalf took in a breath, then changed his tone before continuing. "The pity of Bilbo may rule the fate of many."

Frodo processed that in silence, then I watched as he sat down beside Gandalf. A sudden weariness lacing his words, he sighed to himself, "I wish the Ring had never come to me." He let out a small breath. "I wish none of this had happened."

"So do all who live to see such times, but that is not for them to decide," Gandalf replied, his voice woven with a little comfort. "All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us." Pausing for a moment, he allowed his words to hang in the air before going on, "There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of evil. Bilbo was meant to find the Ring, in which case, you also were meant to have it, and that is an encouraging thought."

I hadn't realized it while he was speaking, but I'd gradually started to relax. It was almost like Gandalf knew exactly what to say, and while I could take next to nothing from what he said, the comfort came from hearing his reassuring tone. Honestly, what would we do without—

Gandalf's sudden cry cut through my thought, and I was instantly on alert. Was something wrong? I still couldn't see his face, but he nodded at one of the doors. "It's that way."

Wait, then did this mean—?

As Merry stood up, he declared, "He's remembered."

"No," Gandalf replied quickly, now standing, "but the air doesn't smell so foul here." With a ghost of a smile, he said, "If in doubt, Meriadoc, always follow your nose."

Rose pulled me off the rock, a smile on her face as well. "This is great! I can't wait to get out of here."

Raising an eyebrow, I muttered, "Let's just hope this isn't the wrong door." It wasn't like I doubted Gandalf. I just didn't want to get lost down here.

"Honestly Upstate," she drawled, giving me an annoyed look, "did you really need to ruin this?" I merely shrugged, following after Gandalf down the dark, winding staircase. Keeping my breaths even, I focused on Gandalf's illuminated staff until we finally made it out of the stairwell.

In the staircase, my body seemed to take up too much space. As we spilled out into the expansive space at the end of the stairs, I was reduced to feeling like an ant as more darkness swelled before us. I could barely hear Gandalf's whisper from the front, "Let me risk a little more light." As his staff grew brighter and brighter, more and more of the cavern took shape, depicting that of a hall. My mouth parted slightly at the sheer remarkability of it.

What lay before us was one of the grandest halls I'd ever seen, but the fact that I hadn't seen many halls before could go unmentioned. Lines of pillars stretched as far as the light would allow, but if I were to wager a guess, they continued on past where the light reached. None of them were especially intricate in design, but what little adornments they had were enough. Lifting my eyes and tilting my head back, I studied the stonework on the ceiling.

Right here, the only thing that could possibly make this place any better would be the absence of all the death.

Much louder now, Gandalf came to a stop at the nearest pillar, declaring, "Behold, the great realm and dwarf-city of Dwarrowdelf."

Sam summed up what I was thinking quite well, "There's an eye opener and no mistake."

Stepping out into the hall, our walk through it was full of awe. To be perfectly honest, it was refreshing to feel something other than dread and fear for once. My eyes scanning the rows of pillars, I could hear the faint echoes of our footsteps bounce off of them, scattering the sound around the room until it stretched so far it faded out. Even though I knew something could very easily be hiding behind any of the pillars we passed, I wasn't exactly afraid. I mean, I was a little bit, but the hall was so cool that it gave me something else to think about.

Suddenly, there was a gasp. My body jerking, I was filled with confused adrenaline. Was something wrong now? Was there something out there?

Gimli, who was the source of the first gasp, made another guttural noise. There was an open door off to our right that I hadn't noticed until Gimli took off, sprinting for it. Gandalf, staring at his sprinting form, called after him. Gimli didn't say anything back, let alone acknowledge that he'd heard the wizard.

Slowly, the rest of us followed after the dwarf and entered the room before us. Looking to the left and right, I noticed piles of skeletons haphazardly flung together, scattered about the room. There were also lots of loose pages littering the ground, as well as blankets of dust. A single ray of light so white it was practically blue filled the room, falling on a slab of rock. Kneeling in front of that rock was Gimli, wailing bitterly.

Perhaps Boromir was right. I resisted the urge to shudder.

Gandalf walked up to the stone, squinting at it. "'Here lies Balin, son of Fundin, Lord of Moria.'" Letting out a sigh, he mused, "He is dead then." Whisking his hat from his head, Gandalf turned to face the door. "It's as I feared."

Gimli let out another wail full of grief.

I didn't wish to speak ill of the dead or anything, but considering we'd seen nothing but dusty skeletons, Gandalf's statement was a little obvious. Unless everyone was hiding really, really well, it was probably safe to assume everyone was dead. Suddenly ashamed of my obviously insensitive thought, I coughed, rubbing my neck.

Behind me, Legolas whispered to Aragorn, "We must move on. We cannot linger."

Before Aragorn could respond, Gandalf started reading from a book he'd found somewhere in the room. "'They have taken the bridge and the second hall.'" Just like that, an eerie silence fell among us, and my breaths grew more shallow. "'We have barred the gates but cannot hold them for long. The ground shakes.'" My pulse started to race. None of this sounded good. "'Drums, drums in the deep.'" Flipping the page, Gandalf looked up at the rest of us for a heavy second. "'We cannot get out. A Shadow moves in the dark. We cannot get out.'" With one last look at the book, Gandalf uttered ominously, "'They are coming.'"

A sound erupted from the far corner of the room. Jumping visibly, my head snapped to the side, feeling for Rose beside me.

Pippin stood beside a well, a guilty expression on his face. Beside him, on a ledge, sat a headless skeleton, but to my horror, it started falling. It disappeared completely from its spot, clattering as it plummeted down into the mine. Attached to the skeleton were a pile of chains connecting the bones to a bucket, and since the things were tethered to each other, the chains and bucket were no quieter than the body. Metal and bone collided with stone, and as if that wasn't enough, the noises echoed.

When I thought the echoes and clanking couldn't possibly end, the room was filled with silence.

So much for being quiet.

I stared at Rose, my heart hammering, and she looked back, trying to hide a snicker. Holding my breath, no one dared move until Gandalf slammed shut the book he was holding. "Fool of a Took!" He didn't raise his voice, but I could tell he sorely wanted too. "Throw yourself in next time and rid us of your stupidity." Hissing, he snatched his hat and staff out of the poor hobbits arms.

Pippin's face fell, and that's when I heard it. Something that sounded suspiciously like a drum.


	10. Chapter 10

**AN: I don't think I can express how blessed I feel. I try not to view the number of reviews I get as an indication about how good/poor my latest chapter was (or how my story is in general), but I have to say, getting five reviews was pretty crazy! Thank you all so much for your continued support :)**

 **On a different note, I've got to be honest and say that writing this chapter was rather difficult, but it's done and on time which is pretty great. I did end it in an odd-ish sport, but I wanted to get this out before the end of the month, and I didn't want it to get any longer than it already is.**

 **Iduna: Honestly, I agree with you. I fell like I've been slighting Rose and Katherine a little bit. Part of that is because I don't want to make Moria longer than it already is, which is a bit of a lame reason. I've thought a lot about what you've said, though, so I tried to incorporate more of Katherine (and also Rose) in this chapter (and I hope to do that more in the future as well). Thank you for both the constructive criticism and the compliments :)**

 **Goddessofwarriorcats: Thank you! They'll definitely need the help :) Here it is!**

 **25 Slingshots: Oh it's no problem! Thank you for reviewing :) I'm glad that I didn't come off as aggressive (I'd feel terrible if I'd offended you). Probably, because you'd have all of the events in a completed work instead of just the latest chapter (unfortunately, this won't be completed for a while... Some development is coming, though). Having Katherine both change and turn out likable is definitely the goal over here! Thank you, but if I'm being honest, I didn't consciously think about where the dust came from... So no need to feel embarrassed :) Thank you again for all of your kind words!**

 **Lydwina Marie: Thank you so much! I hope you enjoy it :D**

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Chapter 10

As the drums got faster and louder, my heart threatened to beat right out of my chest. Dimly, the other noises started to fade, and just like with the Watcher, I felt like I was floating. Thoughts raced around my head on repeat, like a broken yet demented record. We were all going to die. We were all going to die, or at least I was, I wasn't sure about Ro—

A hand materialized on my shoulder. At the sudden contact, I jerked, recoiling, and my head snapped around faster than I intended. My vision swam as I struggled to make out a face. Piercing green eyes shrouded in black emerged from the fog.

Rose.

Looking at her mouth, I knew it was moving, but no words came with the motion. Shoving a breath out with effort, I came to a dizzying conclusion. I was going deaf. I was going deaf and I was going to die and—

A tug on that shoulder. Fixing my attention on that bright green again, I could see the determination, the resolve, burning in those eyes. Letting out a more controlled breath, sounds crept back into my consciousness, but the cacophony made it feel like I'd run face-first into a wall. Sorting through them all was an effort, but after a few minutes, my head stopped pounding long enough for me to settle down.

"Stay with me, Upstate," Rose murmured, rubbing my shoulder now. "You can't freak out, okay?"

Everyone else was running around, preparing for whatever was coming. As some of them started barricading the door, a figure approached us. It was Aragorn, and he looked between the two of us. "Stay out of this as much as you can." His eyes meeting Rose's, he quickly added, "Don't get yourselves killed. We'll try to protect you two as much as we can."

Rose nodded, then pulled on my shoulder, her countenance gone. "We need to get out of the way." Reaching for my hand, she pulled me to the far corner of the room, a few paces away from where the hobbits were clustered together. Clasping a hand on either side of my face, Rose looked into my eyes, her nose mere inches from mine. "We have to stay behind Gandalf, and I was told to help you through this. I know Aragorn believes in you, and so do I. Just don't hit anyone on our side, okay?" She smiled at the weak nod I gave her. "Now, everything will be just fine, but you've got to listen to me. Understand?" I couldn't bring my mouth to move right, so Rose gripped my face tighter. "Come on, Katherine. Do you understand?"

Letting out a tight bubble of air, I choked out my consent. Rose loosed a breath of her own, releasing my face.

Free to gather my bearings some more, my stomach lurched. While the world had stopped spinning, I was in a compromising position. I needed to keep my head and watch my surroundings, but that was becoming hard with the fuzzy outlines in my vision.

The familiar whine of metal scraping against metal cut through my senses. Looking over, Rose was bouncing on the balls of her feet, rolling her wrist with a dagger in her hand. Was she looking forward to this, or was she preparing herself?

Speaking of, I figured I should probably draw my own weapon. Unslinging my bow, I reached behind me, feeling the arrow feathers in my quiver as I grabbed an arrow. As I notched it, I saw Rose give me a small nod.

"Out of all the things I'll be telling you, Katherine," she called, "I'm happy telling you to draw your weapon was one I didn't need to say."

A sharp pound echoed around the room. Flinching, my eyes snapped to the door. I needed to stay calm, but I wasn't expecting them to knock first. A deep breath filled my lungs. Staying calm would clear my senses, in turn helping me stay alive when my skills inevitably failed me.

For the first time since the drums hit us, someone said something that wasn't an order. Gimli let out a guttural noise, declaring, "Let them come. There is one dwarf yet in Moria who still draws breath." His axe at his side, he was perched on top of his dead relative's grave.

At least someone was ready for this.

My bow still secured in my grip, I surveyed the area with a racing heart, deriving a little bit of comfort from Aragorn's previous instruction. Speaking of the man, Aragorn was standing over by Legolas, both of them holding loaded bows as well, but I knew Aragorn was likely going to switch to his blade once the fighting got in closer. Boromir was holding his sword and shield, his wrist twirling the former as he braced himself. Shifting my gaze to peer at the door, I winced as chunks of wood splintered off. Despite the barricade, they were still going to break through anyway. As if my pulse wasn't fast enough, the thought spurred it on more.

More bits of wood were hacked away, creating a hole in the door. Likely seeing this as a good opportunity to start fighting back, Legolas released his arrow. It soared through the small opening, and based on the squeals of pain that erupted after it shot through, the arrow must have met its mark. Not that I had any doubts about his abilities.

Aragorn started firing arrows of his own, and for a few moments, I allowed myself to believe that everything would be okay. Maybe they wouldn't get in, and even if they did, maybe it wouldn't be so bad.

Any confidence that I'd placed behind those words didn't last long as the doors keeping us safe suddenly slammed to the ground, allowing the hoard of enemies to come crawling in the room. Despite the wave of grey bodies swarming them, Legolas and Aragorn kept firing controlled shots, yet the speed with which they were released was much faster now.

My head started to get away from me, fueling my racing pulse. Before I knew it, I was barely breathing. My vision started to blur again, and I couldn't feel the ground anymore. There was a sharp pain on the side of my face, and I could feel my head snap to the side. What the—?

"SNAP OUT OF IT!"

Rose's face overwhelmed my vision as she jerked my chin up, forcing me to look at her. Somehow, she managed to glare at me and check our surroundings at the same time. "Don't you panic on me. Panicking will get you killed." Pulling me upright – I hadn't realized I'd fallen to my knees – she pushed me deeper into the corner we were nestled in. "This is going to go fast, so we're going to stay right around here." She stood in front of me, acting as a protective barrier. "Just shoot at the enemies that aren't close to our friends, okay? Don't think about it. Literally, just shoot."

Swallowing, I nodded, feeling more secure with the stone wall digging into my back. I let out a breath, took a small step forward, giving myself space to pull my arm back, and lifted my bow. Feeling the feathers beneath my fingers, I let out a shaky breath and took aim.

"Don't panic if they start getting close, okay? Just leave them to me." Rose said between breaths, between throws. "If you can, try to aim for their heads."

A little numbly, I murmured back, "That's gross." I still tucked that information away though.

I was not going to die here.

There were some of them to the right. From what I could tell, no one was really in that area. My stomach dropping as I thought about what I was about to do, I let my arrow fly, my fingers shaking. Due to my stance being unsteady, I stumbled back, losing my sight on the arrow in the sea of fighting bodies.

Unfortunately, that meant I couldn't tell where it had landed, but that didn't stop me from drawing another arrow from my quiver. Making an attempt to keep my stance steadier, I fired this one with less hesitation. It nearly hit one of the orcs – that's what they were, right? – and luckily didn't draw anyone's attention.

I drew another arrow and was about to fire it, but the ground started shaking. Looking over at Rose, I raised an eyebrow. "Can you feel that?"

Before she could respond, something burst through the doorway. That something let out a bellow, causing me to wince. When my eyes landed on it, my mouth fell open. A disfigured creature was standing in the middle of the room with its head raised. Pale flesh shook as it bellowed again and waved its beefy arms.

A hard swallow forced its way down my throat as I continued to gape at it. If I wasn't mistaken, that thing could probably kill me _on accident_ with a misplaced swing or step. It let out another snarl, showering the enemies in front of it with blobs of saliva as it bared its teeth. The breath in my lungs was choked, and my nerve slowly ebbed away.

In the midst of my staring, Legolas managed to lodge an arrow in its hide, causing it to scream and grab its arm.

"Katherine!" Rose screamed, but I couldn't draw my attention away from it. My brain was frozen, so I didn't notice the orc charging me until a glint of metal caught my eye. One of Roses's throwing knives narrowly missed my head, embedding itself into the forehead of the snarling orc swimming in my vision. Before I could react, much less puke, Rose was shoving me behind her, her sword now within her grip. "You need to stop staring!" After a second, she added, "You should probably sit the rest of this out while you're at it."

"You think you can defend me?" The words were out of my mouth as soon as I thought them up.

Without turning around, she retorted, "I can certainly defend both of us better than you can defend yourself. But am I one of the men?" She swung at an attacker charging her, grunting. "No, so we should stay put right here. As long as we do that, we should be fine."

Peeking out from behind Rose, I watched as the battle went on without me. Rose was right. I wasn't cut out for this, at least not right now; however, I still had to keep my wits about me. As I took in everything happening around me, though, the thoughts in my brain scattered.

Off to my left, Gandalf was grunting, using both his staff and his sword to knock orcs aside. Gimli, who was no longer perched on the grave, was cutting down the orcs around him. Rose had dark blood on her sword, despite her inexperience with it. I didn't think it was hers. Rather, I hoped it wasn't hers, but she hadn't shown any signs of getting injured, so she was probably fine.

The rattling of chains drew me back into the center of the room. The giant – I still wasn't sure what it was – was swinging his chains at Legolas, who deftly dodged them whenever they swung towards him. His obvious agility caught me off guard, and despite myself, I felt like I wasn't breathing. At least, that was the case until Rose's hand came swinging around, slapping me in the face.

"What was that for?" I yelled, rubbing my cheek.

Rose grunted, grappling with another orc. "Accident, sorry!" With another slash of her sword, the grey-colored being she was battling fell to the ground.

Beneath me, I felt the ground give as the giant monster fighting Legolas stumbled. Looking up again, I noticed the elf had somehow ended up on the giant's head. There were also a few arrows poking out, giving the monster the illusion of having hair, but my stomach lurched when the giant lost its balance. Employing that same elven grace as before, Legolas nimbly jumped down to the ground.

Just then, something sharp cut into my side. What was that? Had I been stabbed? That was it; I was dead for sure. Looking around frantically, I searched for the orc who'd done me in, my posture stiff. My breaths grew more ragged, but I couldn't see anyone. I didn't want to look. I didn't want to I didn't want to I didn't—

Off to my left, Rose yelled, "Sorry, didn't mean to kick you!"

 _Oh, for the love of everything good in this world._

I let out a breath I didn't realize I was holding. Collapsing, I felt a little lightheaded. It could have been over just like that, and I hadn't even seen it coming. Scooting away from Rose, I pressed my back into the wall. I had to stop staring. I needed to be more on guard. At least, once I got my breathing under control.

Erupting out of nowhere, a throaty scream filled the air. What was that? Happening again and sounding more urgent this time, my eyes searched the battle for the source. I could have been wrong, but it sounded like Frodo. A more manly cry of defiance quickly replaced it, and I strained to see what was going on.

The pale creature was in a corner on the other side of the room, letting out a terrible wail. Aragorn was standing in front of it, his hands grasping a pronged spear. With a sharp jerk of his arm, Aragorn shoved it into the monster's chest. A louder and angrier bellow emerged from the giant's mouth, but it was cut off as rocks began pelting it. The beast raised a fist to block its face while using its other hand to swipe at Aragorn. The meaty hand made contact with the man, sending him flying.

An orc wandered into my field of view and caught my gaze. I'd been caught staring again. With a grainy snarl, it charged me. I frantically searched for Rose while my hands fumbled with my weapons. I couldn't find her anywhere. Where had she gone!?

Watching a little helplessly, still struggling with my bow, I watched as the orc drew closer and closer to me. Frozen with fear and the inability to do anything about it, I braced myself for death again. Before a blow could fall, the orc's head jerked to the side, a feathered arrow sticking out of its skull.

I almost wept with relief, but I wasn't sure how many more times I could almost die. Even so, the only one wielding a bow right now was Legolas. He'd been the one to save me?

A hand grabbed my shoulder. Crying out, I raised a fist.

"Get up, it's Frodo." Appearing out of nowhere, Rose was at my side.

What did she mean about Frodo?

Whipping my head to the corner, I tried to look for his body, but there was a sharp tug on my wrist. Rose pulled me away, heading for the corner where Aragorn was lying. "It's best if we stay out of the way," she called, running now. As I had little protection without her, I quickly followed her.

We found Aragorn first, but to my surprise, he was sitting up. Granted he was holding his head, but it was kind of hard to shake off being swatted into the air. Rose patted my shoulder, then ran off, presumably in search of Frodo. Was she leaving me to tend to Aragorn?

"So," I started awkwardly, licking my lips, "how do you feel?"

"I'm alright. Where's Frodo?" Aragorn replied, his eyes searching the area around us.

Turning my head to look for where Rose went, I shrugged. "You know, I'm not sure. Want me to help you find him?" Offering my arm, I tried to help the man stand. He accepted it and pulled himself up, his legs shaking marginally.

A low groan rumbled from the center of the room, pulling our attention away from each other. The giant's mouth was open, and it looked like something was inside it. Squinting, I couldn't tell what it was. Before I could get a better glimpse, the monster crumpled to the ground. I wasn't that good at picking up on things, but I hoped that meant the monster was dead.

"Over here!" Rose shouted from several feet away. Like a moth drawn to light, Aragorn was out of my grip, steadily jogging over to the sound of her voice. I hurried to catch up to him.

Frodo was on his stomach, his face shadowed by Rose standing over him. Aragorn immediately crouched beside him. The others gathered around shortly after, each person growing silent as they approached. I noticed the hobbits looking especially fearful for their friend, which only increased my own growing anxiety.

Aragorn surveyed the hobbit's body and shook his head, breathing, "Oh, no." His hand touched Frodo's shoulder and gently rolled the hobbit over. Strangely, there was no blood on the front of his shirt like I had expected. To make things even stranger, Frodo's face scrunched up as he started coughing.

Sam's eyes widened with shock, and he rushed to his friend's side. His mouth parted as if he wanted to say something but didn't quite know what to say. With a rush of breath, he looked up at Gandalf and smiled, "He's alive."

The wizard had been leaning against a pillar, anxiously awaiting word on Frodo's state. With the deliverance of Sam's news, relief shone on the wizard's face.

Frodo pushed himself up into a sitting position and started breathing heavily, his hand flying to his chest. Looking between Sam and Aragorn, who were still seated on either side of him, Frodo murmured, "I'm alright. I'm not hurt."

After a moment, Aragorn said the very thing that was on all of our minds, "You should be dead." He let out another breath and went on, "That spear would have skewered a wild boar."

Gandalf drew in closer to us and peered at Frodo mysteriously. "I think there's more to this hobbit than what meets the eye." At his words, Frodo pulled back the collar of his shirt, revealing a glittering, cream-colored shirt covering his chest. I drew my eyebrows together in confusion. What the heck was that?

"Mithril," Gimli said, supplying the answer to my mentally-asked question. "You're full of surprises, Master Baggins." Even with the name, I didn't know what it was, so I remained as lost as I was before. I made a mental note to ask him about it later.

Our post-battle relief was short-lived. Distantly, more screeches echoed into the room. Shooting a look at Gandalf, I waited for him to give us directions. Sure enough, he declared, "To the Bridge of Khazad-Dûm!" Pushing himself off the pillar, his cloak billowed out behind him as he started running towards the door.

Without much question, I followed along with the others after him.


	11. Chapter 11

**AN: Sorry about how long this has taken me, but on the bright side, it's pretty long. Here's March's update!**

 **Goddessofwarriorcats: Yes she does, and unfortunately that doesn't happen in this chapter yet - soon though! Thank you for your support!**

 **Guest: Thank you very much! Aww, I'm jealous - I haven't watched/read any of them through (for fun) in a long time! I hope this wasn't too late... Thanks again!**

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Chapter 11

When we burst into the hallway, I wasn't sure what to expect. Shrill screeches echoed around the giant hall, and Gandalf had us running for our lives. On the bright side, I was somehow still alive, but while we continued to run from the orcs, a startling realization played through my mind on repeat. It went without saying that I desperately needed to be able to control and defend myself.

It was an unfortunate slap in the face.

The chilling shrieks, which were growing louder by the second, did nothing to soothe my racing heart. If I was being honest, I was tempted to sneak a glance over my shoulder, but my head knew better than to do that. If I risked a look, I would probably lose it again as I had in Gimli's relative's tomb. Additionally, sneaking a glance would slow me down. I couldn't afford to stop or panic, especially now of all times.

I could do this. I had run long distance in middle school. I could still run. Everything was alright.

At least, everything was just dandy until it suddenly wasn't again, which was no surprise. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see flickers of movement gathering, which was terrifying and not good. We couldn't have been slowing down.

No, they were crawling out of the ceiling. With a jolt, I watched as some of them slid down one of the pillars, grinning fiendishly at us. This was not good.

Within minutes, we were surrounded, the screaming reaching a climax. Someone — Aragorn? — quickly grabbed my forearm, pulling me behind them. The men created a circle, pulling around to protect Rose, the hobbits, and me. I didn't have it in me to be offended, but the circle strengthened my resolve to step it up and stop being a weakling. Somehow, I would learn how to fight, and I'd do it in my own time. If I managed to make it out of here alive, that was.

For some reason, none of the orcs charged us, but that didn't stop them from shaking their weapons at us while they screamed. Pippin tensed a little bit beside me, and I didn't blame him. Despite being in the center of everyone, I didn't exactly feel safe.

Off to my left, Gimli let out a bellow of his own as he shook his axe. Honestly, where did that fervor for battle come from?

Behind us, out in the deep darkness, a growl rumbled. The tension in the air split, and for a moment, the orcs forgot about us. Looking around, they chattered to each other as their weapons clattered. In the midst of their jabbering, a second, deeper roar thundered towards us.

Slowly, the determined fire in my blood began to turn to ice, which was a shame.

The orcs seemed to share my thoughts on the situation as their screams filled with panic. They quickly fled the scene, their armor clanking as they disappeared into the shadowy darkness. Not a soul stirred in our ranks, though, but Gimli did let out a laugh at the orcs' retreat.

Another snarl lumbered, and my head slowly turned to face the direction of its origin. A small pang of fear emanated from my stomach.

Why was the hall illuminated in the distance? Better yet, why did it look like fire? Unless my eyes were deceiving me, why was the fire moving towards us?

Even though there was a moving fire headed straight for us, no one moved. One of the hobbits let out a shaky breath off to my right. It didn't need to be said, but I knew we were all waiting for Gandalf to say something before we took action.

Oddly enough, it was Boromir who spoke first, asking the question that at least I was thinking, "What is this new devilry?"

Gandalf merely let out a breath and continued staring down the hallway. For a heartbeat, the fact that he wasn't responding worried me a lot more than the oncoming threat. Beside me, Rose pounced on the balls of her feet, then gave me a small smile when she met my gaze.

Another low growl came echoing down the hall. Finally, Gandalf stirred, eventually uttering, "A Balrog." For some reason, a chill went down my spine even though the words were just as meaningless to me as everything else in this world. "A demon of the ancient world." Another chill hit me, but this one had more context with it. An odd feeling sprung up in my stomach. Still droning on ominously, Gandalf murmured, "This foe is beyond any of you." Turning to the side slowly, he bellowed, "Run!"

There was no need to tell me twice. With Gandalf at the head, we tore down the hall, the noise of our footsteps bouncing off the pillars. While I had a naïve shred of hope that we'd go undetected, the loud skirmish with the orcs earlier probably hadn't done us any favors considering it was what had drawn this "Balrog's" attention anyway.

Gandalf ushered us inside a doorway at a new end of the hall. As I passed him, I noticed he was looking past us intently, his now-haggard face squinting at what was pursuing us. His eyes were glazed with uncertainty.

My astute observations brought me little comfort.

My feet tore down the hallway, and I somehow managed to stay upright as we flew down a flight of stairs. At one moment, I took a corner too sharply and went careening into the wall, but Rose was by my side in an instant. With a sharp tug on my arm, she balanced me enough for me to start running again.

In front of the group, Boromir let out a panicked cry, and the hobbits in front of me slowed to a stop. As I caught my breath, allowing my legs to rest for a bit, I noticed Legolas and Boromir were on the floor. Right in front of them was a steep cliff, likely a result of the mine deteriorating. No one had fallen, right?

Behind me, I heard Gandalf say something to Aragorn about leading. While it sounded important, most of my attention was now fixed on the fact that my legs felt like jello. Doubling over, I hadn't noticed how rubbery they felt, but then again, running for my life with adrenaline coursing through my system was a pretty big distraction. I sucked in another breath and tried to keep my legs under me.

Gandalf started yelling now and almost shoved Aragorn into me. "Do as I say! Swords are no more use here." What in the heck was he talking about?

I wasn't allowed the time to ponder his meaning as Rose pulled me into a run again. This time, I was more aware of the ache in my legs and the burning sensation in my throat, but Rose hadn't let go of my arm, leaving me no choice but to power through it.

Every stair I went down was agony, and my knees protested at the impacts of my footfalls. Running stairs in middle school had been bad enough, but throwing in a deadly monster made it that much worse. While the track coach certainly had seemed like a monster back then, nothing he'd done compared to this.

The people in front of me jerked to a halt, and from what I could tell, there was another gap in the path. With a shuddering breath, my brain processed this information. _There was a gap in the path, and if I fell into it, I would die._

With little hesitation, Legolas leaped across, beckoning for others to follow him. Was he also offering to catch people? If not, then it was certain doom for some of us.

With that light voice of his, the elf called for the wizard to jump over, thankfully motioning that he was going to catch the older man. A grunt escaped his lips, but Gandalf jumped over safely, clinging to Legolas for support.

Something whizzed through the air at us, clattering against the stone stairs we were standing on. Another one hurtled towards us, but this time something gleamed. It was an arrow. That meant while on top of having to clear a gaping hole in our path, we also had to pray that we wouldn't get hit with an arrow.

This definitely wasn't anything like track practice.

A few more shots were fired in our direction. After a second, Legolas fired one in return.

A hand wrapped around my waist. Feeling a little startled at the sudden contact, I expected Rose's hand to be resting on my hip, but it was Aragorn at my side, his arm supporting my back. Without meeting my eyes, he murmured, "I'm going to throw you over, and when you land, start firing back. It doesn't have to be good. You just need to distract them. Believe me, you can do this." He let out a breath, then tensed his arm, throwing me across the gap with no warning.

Crashing into something solid, I morbidly worried that my body had splattered against the stairs, but there was some warmth under my cheek. Legolas steadied me, his arms wrapped around my back. "Are you okay?"

Nodding, my head spun, but I felt good enough to walk. After making sure I wasn't going to fall over the edge, he released me.

Aragorn didn't say my shots had to be good, and he'd said he believed in me. They just had to be distracting. I could probably do distracting.

Drawing an arrow with more confidence that I'd felt before, I reared my arm back, releasing the arrow with minimal kickback. Before I really realized what I was doing, another arrow was loaded in my bow, and I was braced to fire it. Just as I let go of the string, something cracked off to my left. I risked a quick glance to see what was happening.

A section of the stairs was collapsing after Boromir had leapt across, Merry and Pippin secured in his arms. Rose was still lingering on the other side, her face surprisingly — actually, it wasn't surprising — devoid of fear.

Now that there were more people on my side of the gap, I walked down a few more stairs to create some space, then launched another arrow into the air. I couldn't tell if I was hitting anything or even clearing the space between myself and the orcs, but it felt pretty good to be doing something productive. On top of that, this gave me the opportunity to practice shooting at a distance. It wasn't perfect or anything, because they were firing back, so it was still a pretty high threat level as they were better shots than I was.

I walked down a few more steps, firing arrows with even more ease than before. I wasn't claiming to be a master or anything as I could only really fire arrows when I was standing still, but the action felt more comfortable and less scary. Because of how much easier it felt, I could now watch my arrows fly a little bit more. Sadly, most of them weren't clearing the gap, but some of them did manage to at least hit the wall the orcs were standing on.

Someone was yelling, and for a scary moment, I was worried that someone had fallen off. Quickly glancing to the left again, I let out a breath when I noticed it was just Gimli throwing a fuss. I was about to return my attention to my arrows, but a loud crumbling stole my attention away again. What was going on now?

Aragorn threw Frodo behind him, then fluidly jumped back himself, narrowly missing the chunks of stairs plummeting to the ground far below. With another smaller sigh, a guilty wave of gratitude coursed through me. Rose hadn't been with them, but Aragorn and Frodo were still in danger.

An arrow whizzed over my head, briefly catching my attention before my ears were assaulted by the low growling of the fiery monster chasing us. Feeling a little dizzy, I tried to sort through my worry for Aragorn and Frodo and my general fear of the situation at hand, but then rocks started falling from the ceiling. One crashed into a section of the bridge across the gap, creating an island out of the stairs Aragorn and Frodo had the misfortune of inhabiting.

Beneath their feet, the rock started groaning. To my shock, their section of stairs started to wobble around unsteadily. Beside me, Rose gripped her hand on the hilt of her sword so hard her knuckles started turning white. Unable to do anything about the horror unfolding before me, I simply stared at our two companions.

Aragorn gave the command for Frodo to lean forward, to tilt their island towards ours. With worrisome speed, they hurtled towards us, and upon the collision of the sections of rock, they were safely caught by Legolas and Boromir.

Now that they were safe, Rose grabbed at my hand and pulled me down the rest of the stairs. Easily slinging my bow across my back with my free hand, I pulled out of her grip and safely tried to move aside because I wasn't qualified enough to lead the group.

A loud crash exploded behind us. As tempted as I was to look at what had happened, I didn't want to risk losing my footing on the narrow path. Another duller sound quickly followed, leaving me to assume that the stairs had fallen to the ground.

Before I knew it, I was both winded and at the bottom of the stairs. Despite the burning sensation in my legs, I was happy to be on a steadier path. Up ahead, Gandalf slowed to a stop but continued to usher us on, yelling, "Over the bridge!" Letting out a breath, he bellowed, "Fly!" A wall of fire flickering a few feet away brought out the urgency painted on his face.

A few moments after I passed him, a lion-like roar reached my ears. Around me, the others slowed to a stop, and I followed suit. Bent over and panting, I looked behind us.

Doing so turned out to be a mistake. The thing that had been following us emerged from the fire, ram horns twisting away from its almost reptilian face. It opened its mouth and let out another roar, but as I squinted at it closer, I could make out waves of heat pouring from its opened jaws. After staring at us for a brief moment with its bright eyes, it started chasing us again.

Pushing my hands off my knees, I forced myself into a run again. Luckily, I could see that the hallway we were in didn't last for much longer; however, as the end approached, the relief I'd started feeling was replaced with another dose of fear.

The bridge we were about to cross was only a few feet wide, and from what I could tell, it was likely a long way down if I stumbled over the edge. Another roar grumbled behind me, and that snapped everything into perspective. If I didn't attempt to cross the bridge, then the monster was going to eat me. I was dead either way.

The path started funneling into the narrowness of the bridge, so I kept my eyes fixed on Rose's feet right in front of me. Just like that, I was on the bridge. Time seemed to melt away, and for a brief second I worried that I was going to be stuck running on that bridge for forever, but then I crashed into something. As I lost my balance, my heart skipped a beat as I realized that I was plummeting to my death. I was falling over the edge.

All throughout this stupid mine, my luck had been in my favor, but now that we were leaving, my luck had run out.

Hands gripped my waist, and blond hair fell into my face. With a swift motion, Legolas hoisted me to my feet. I was no longer falling. I was safe on the other side. Just as suddenly as he'd grabbed me, he let me go, pushing me further away from the edge.

I didn't know how many more near-deaths I could take.

Behind me, I heard Gandalf growl something incoherent. As I made my way over to where Rose was standing — she probably had made it across without a problem — I turned to see what the commotion was. Gandalf hadn't fallen, had he?

Frodo let out an echoing cry, "Gandalf!"

When my eyes fell on the wizard, my heart stuttered. He was still on the bridge, but instead of running across it like he'd told the rest of us to do, he was standing there, facing the beast. He'd lost his hat somewhere in our escape, so his long grey hair fluttered around his shoulders.

With a racing pulse, my eyes slid to shadowy presence lingering on the other side of the wide gap. Flames danced along the monster's body, which did nothing to quell the anxious feelings stirring in my stomach. In a swift motion, it raised itself on its back legs, and while it extended its arms, the flames coming from its body grew and flared out.

What the heck was Gandalf doing just standing there!?

He lifted his staff, uttering words I couldn't hear clearly. The stone embedded in the tip started glowing brighter, and from where I was standing, the light seemed to encapsulate his body. Was he making a shield or powering up some spell?

The beast snarled and, with the sword it had conjured earlier, swung it down upon Gandalf's sphere of light. Upon the impact, a burst of white light mixed with fire exploded outwards. Even with my eyes closed, the brightness of it burned my eyes. When I opened them again, my gaze flew to the spot where I'd last seen Gandalf. Miraculously, he didn't appear to be harmed, so it must have been a shield. A bit of the tightness in my chest eased. Gandalf was probably going to be fine.

Its fiery sword missing, the Balrog leaned forward and roared directly in Gandalf's face. While my heart leaped at the noise, Gandalf merely stared the beast down, which was definitely something I would not have done in his situation.

He was going to be fine. Everything was going to be fine.

The Balrog didn't seem to appreciate that and took a step forward. My stomach plummeted, but Gandalf didn't so much as flinch. Only when the monster pulled out a whip made of fire did Gandalf take a few steps back. With a flick of its scaly wrist, the beast snapped its whip as if to prove a point. The end of it got a little too close to Gandalf for my liking.

With a sweeping motion in his arms, Gandalf roared, "YOU SHALL NOT PASS!" Bringing his sword and staff together, he slammed them to the ground.

Nothing happened. That was the best he could have done at a time like this? What was he thinking? That didn't do anything!

The Balrog flared his nostrils, then took a step forward, raising his whip above his head.

 _This is it_ , I thought to myself bitterly, bracing for the worst.

As soon as the beast took a step, the bridge crumbled under its weight. With a panicked scream, the fiery monster collapsed along with the bridge, its whip curling as it went.

So, that had done something after all.

Gandalf stared down the gap, watching as the Balrog fell, the wizard's shoulders rising and falling as he gathered himself. He didn't move for a time, then turned around to walk back towards us.

I couldn't believe it. He'd done it, he'd actually done—

A snap filled the air, and a coil of fire wrapped itself around Gandalf's ankle. With a crisp jerk, the fire yanked on his leg, pulling him over the edge.

A short scream filled my ears.

Somehow, Gandalf managed to grab hold of the bridge, but only his head was visible to us. Sweat trickled down his brow as he strained to adjust his grip. Faintly, I could hear Frodo yelling.

Gandalf let out a breath, then looked up at us. Silence fell, but I couldn't breathe. This wasn't happening. It couldn't end like this. Not after he'd fought so hard.

With a final breath, Gandalf uttered, "Fly, you fools." He let go of the ledge and fell out of view.

Gandalf was gone.

A scream tore out of me.


	12. Chapter 12

**AN: Here's April's update! I was hoping that I'd be able to get it out in April, but that, unfortunately, didn't happen. It's a little bit shorter than usual, but I needed one that way because the past few chapters have been a little long.**

 **daughterofthechief: Thank you for reviewing - I hope this wait wasn't too long! I appreciate your kind words :)**

 **Iduna: I can't tell you how happy reading your review made me :D Thank you so much!**

 **Goddessofwarriorcats: Moria really got me the first time I watched the movies. That is a pretty bright side :) Thank you!**

 **Lydwina Marie: Thank you so much!**

 **Scylla's revenge: Thank you! I'm glad my pacing isn't too fast/slow. Aww, thank you so much! It really means a lot. I hope the wait wasn't too long on this one...**

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Chapter 12

A bead of sweat dripped down my face as I ran along with the others.

It had only been yesterday. Gandalf had only been taken from us yesterday. I was still caught up in the memory of him falling, calling for us to run, to leave him behind. The scene played over and over in my mind, my stomach plummeting as I watched him let go of the ledge again and again. I gritted my teeth and tried to shove the image away.

Reaching my hand up to rub my jaw, I winced at the tension there. I'd taken to clenching my teeth during such thoughts, and it was really starting to hurt.

As for Rose, she walked along in an odd silence. She'd never really talked much, but she was at least expressive. Now, she didn't really fidget or stir or anything. Other than that, she didn't appear to be too fazed by the wizard's absence. Well, she'd also taken to wandering off whenever we stopped to eat or sleep. I wasn't sure what she was doing when she was by herself, and she didn't offer any details when she'd return, but I was reluctant to push her.

Aragorn had told us to put aside our grief for the time being, saying that the time for that was later. At the moment, it seemed a little insensitive, but he claimed that the area wasn't safe and stressed that we really needed to run. The others seemed to do this with relative ease, but once again, I was trying. Honestly, I was trying as hard as I could to keep myself together, and outwardly I was pretty sure I was doing a decent job of it, but on the inside, it felt like someone had cracked me open, leaving me a little raw and unsteady.

Up in the front, Aragorn picked up his pace, charging for the line of trees up in front of us. That was another thing that had changed – Aragorn was leading us now. At first, his taking command confused me, but then I remembered a previously puzzling exchange I'd overheard Aragorn have with Gandalf back in the mines. Now, it all made sense. Gandalf hadn't expected to survive the Balrog and had been forced to call on the man to take over.

There was a slight twist in my gut.

Once we breached the approaching tree line, our collective pace slowed. I let out a heavy sigh, trying to distract myself by focusing on the physical status of my legs. They were still a little sore, but at least they weren't wobbling around anymore. They'd been rubbery after all the running in Moria—

Biting my lip, I shut down the thought and turned my attention to the scenery.

Forcing myself to take it in, my eyes roamed over the tall trees around us. Some wisps of fog clung to the ground. While I shifted my gaze to frown at some wildflowers, an odd feeling swept over me. I couldn't quite put my finger on it, but I knew it didn't have to do with a certain wizard.

As if he'd been tuned in to my musings, Gimli turned and gestured to Sam and Frodo. "Stay close, young hobbits." Resting one of his hands on Frodo's shoulder, he whispered, "They say that a great sorceress lives in these woods." His other hand resting on the hilt of his axe, Gimli went on, his voice lowering with every word, "An elf-witch of terrible power."

Rose half-heartedly smirked from her position beside me. Turning ever so slightly, I raised an eyebrow. Shrugging, she mouthed, "She can't be that scary." Something about it seemed a little off, but I simply shrugged, deciding not to say anything in response. My stomach churned.

"All who look upon her," Gimli breathed, still warning the hobbits, "fall under her spell and are never seen again." A chill shot up my spine, but I tried not to let worry me too much. Maybe it wouldn't work if I closed my eyes? I kind of felt like it didn't work like that, but it still didn't count as eye contact. If she was as great as he claimed, then that small loophole wouldn't work. And what was all this about never seeing people again? Typically, people said stuff like that to scare others. Here in this world, though, it wouldn't surprise me if it were the truth. Despite my best efforts, a knot of uncertainty twisted in my chest.

Letting out a breath, I pushed down on those feelings once more. If only Gandalf were here because he would probably know what to do in this sort of situation. He'd also probably have some knowledge about this sorceress. My chest tightened a little bit more, but I sucked in a breath and swallowed the feelings that threatened to bubble up. Now was not the time for an emotional breakdown.

With a sharp breath, Gimli smirked. "Well, here's one dwarf she won't ensnare so easily. I have the eyes of a hawk and the ears of a fox."

If closing one's eyes probably wouldn't work against her, then I was pretty sure that having determination wouldn't overpower her either.

Rose quickly grabbed my arm, pulling me out of my daze. When I turned to look at her, she didn't return my gaze and stiffened. An arrow had materialized out of nowhere and was pointed directly at her, aiming for the spot between her eyes. A shadowed being with light hair stared down the arrow at her.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw another arrow aimed at my forehead. While I was sorely tempted to put my hands up in surrender and maybe let out a small yelp of terror, the steel grip on my wrist prevented me from indulging in that.

From where I was standing, I could barely see Legolas aiming an arrow of his own back at the figures ambushing us. For a second, it shocked me that he had managed to draw his bow so quickly when I hadn't even noticed their approach, but then again, I was dense and oblivious as a human female.

A cool voice dripping with a hint of sass filled the tense silence. "The dwarf breathes so loudly we could have shot him in the dark." My heart raced upon hearing the words, and I turned my head to the side slightly to see who had spoken. While the voice had sounded light like Legolas's, it was definitely masculine. He also seemed to be the one in charge.

Rose's grip on my arm tightened in response to my movement, but I resisted the very strong urge to shake her off.

From what I could tell, he even acted kind of like Legolas but was more poised — if that was even possible. He had fair – nearly platinum – hair, but his face yielded nothing. As I continued to stare at him, noting more and more similarities between him and the only elf in our company, I started to feel as though he was an elf, too. If that was the case, then that gave more plausibility to Gimli's words about an elven enchantress. The thought didn't sit well with me.

Aragorn dipped his head to the leader, murmuring words that I didn't understand. As he spoke, he looked between us, held immobile due to our proximity to death, and that unwavering face. From his tone, Aragorn sounded a little bit desperate. With another pinch of fear, I felt more worry masking my judgment. Was Aragorn just pleading for help, or was he also afraid?

While Aragorn waited for the ambush leader answer, Gimli called up, "Aragorn, these woods are perilous. We should go back."

With little hesitation, the poised figure fixed his eyes on Gimli. For a scary second, I feared that he was going to give the order to shoot, but instead, he murmured, "You have entered the realm of the Lady of the Wood. You cannot go back." His gaze swept over the rest of us, and when I met his eyes, I suppressed the urge to shiver under the weight of his stare. His face still emotionless, he sharply commanded, "Come. She is waiting."

My blood froze. Who was this "she?" Was it the sorceress Gimli had been talking about?

I didn't have much time to think about it further as the poised elf promptly turned and started walking away. Left with no choice but to follow him, I tried to control my breathing, hoping that I wasn't going to disappear in this forest like the legends claimed.


	13. Chapter 13

**AN: It's certainly been a while (since May of this year I think... yeesh). Long story short, I took a really long break that I didn't know I needed, and on top of that, these past few months have been a little wild. The next few will likely be just as wild, so updates probably won't be monthly for a while; however, I do have the next chapter in the works, but I can't say when it'll be up. In general, I wouldn't be surprised if another long gap between chapters happens again.**

 **Guest (1): Thank you! I really appreciate it. I've got a little bit planned for Lorien, and I'm working on the Legolas scenes (I promise)! Hopefully the wait wasn't too long...**

 **Guest (2): Thank you for your review!**

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Chapter 13

Thankfully, our trek through the woodland wasn't a long one because the escort we were given had me a little on edge. The leader silently walked in front of us, his posture still rigid and composed, while the rest of the elves flanked us just as quietly. To my horror, my sleeve brushed the hand of the elf walking beside me. He didn't so much as flinch, but my pulse raced as I subtly searched his face for any signs of hostility.

If only Gandalf could see us now. The knot of grief in my chest tightened, leaving my heart aching. I saw him staring at us as he dangled in the air again before eventually shoving the thought away.

It was hard to ask clarification from a dead man, but I was pretty sure that our current situation wasn't what Gandalf had meant at all.

Sneaking another look up at the elf beside me, I wondered why they had left us alive. It was difficult to determine if these elves intended to be friendly or not. They hadn't shot us when they had the chance to, but they were also giving us a very tight escort. We weren't hostages, were we? Wracking my brain, I tried to think of a reason for kidnapping us. Maybe these elves really were evil and had something against Elrond and the other elves, but that didn't explain how Aragorn seemed to know the leader.

My arm brushed the elf beside me once more, startling me more this time. While my resulting flinch was more noticeable, the elf didn't stir or even glance at me.

As I'd been lost in my thoughts, I failed to notice the ornate staircases that had started appearing until now. Made of a lightly colored wood, they spiraled around the massive silver trunks surrounding us. Odd white lights shone in the archways above the staircases, and from the ground, they looked like stars, giving the forest a new ethereal feeling. Seeing them sent a small but refreshing wave of calm over me. I knew it would be a fleeting feeling, but it was nice to feel something other than grief, pain, and panic for once.

Passing a few more of these staircases, we gradually drew deeper into the woods, and our escort slowly peeled away from us. After walking for so long with an elf by my side, I felt strangely exposed by the resulting absence. With them gone, though, my internal tension dropped, and I let out a tight breath.

Well, the ambush leader was still leading us through the forest. Under his direction, we passed a few more staircases before he started walking up one. From my spot on the ground, I craned my neck to see where we were going. At first, there was nothing of interest save for the white lights illuminating the way for us, but as we made our ascent, something that resembled a house came into view.

By the time we cleared the stairs, we were in full view of the house. I fought the urge to gape at it. Awnings as ornate as the stairs led away from the house while more white lights illuminated them. The house was on a higher platform than the one we stood on, but a smaller set of stairs led up to it. Stopping at the foot of those stairs, and I watched as our leader stepped away from us. Then, moving so silently that if I hadn't already been looking in their direction I would have missed them, I watched as two beings stalked down the stairs towards us.

Broadly speaking, there was something very different about both of them. They each had nearly platinum blonde hair, but their specific shade was speckled with gold. Otherworldly light surrounded them as they were bathed in pure white light. My pulse skipped a beat, but I couldn't tell if it was from fear or awe.

The one on the left was escorting the other and regarded us with cool calculation. If elven tradition was anything like old-fashioned Earth tradition, I assumed the left elf was a male. The other, who I presumed was then female, appeared much fairer than first and wore a silver circlet on her head. For some reason, she kept her eyes lowered while her long hair cascaded down her features in waves.

With a voice as crisp as frost, the male spoke, "Ten there are here, yet eleven there were set out from Rivendell." Pausing, he fixed his eyes on me and Rose and squinted at the two of us, a subtle hint of puzzlement gracing his features. Feeling as though I'd done something wrong, I was tempted to sneak a glance at Rose standing beside me, but I froze under the scrutinizing weight of his gaze. The elf's eyebrows furrowed for a second before he turned away, saying, "Tell me, where is Gandalf, for I much desire to speak with him?"

What had that been about? The hairs on my arm rose, but I couldn't stop looking at him.

Before Aragorn or anyone else could say something, the female's gaze swept over us as she murmured, "He has fallen into Shadow."

The chill traveled up my arms. How did she know that? Unless I was mistaken, no one had said anything about what happened in the mines.

A strange silence hung in the air, but it only lasted a moment or two as the fairer elf spoke again, her voice a little stronger this time, "The quest stands upon the edge of a knife." Her eyes, a deep blue, scanned our faces. They settled on Aragorn for a second before her attention shifted to Boromir. "Stray but a little, and it will fail to the ruin of all." Pausing, she narrowed her eyes a little, her expression unreadable.

Turning to look at the man, I noticed that he was sweating. His face was crumpled, his lower lip quivering. What shocked me the most was the fear blazing in his eyes. In fact, his whole body resonated with it. Bringing a shaking hand to his brow, he broke eye contact with her and stared at the ground.

The female's brow narrowed at this, yet she only gazed at the man for a few moments more before turning to Sam. Her voice low, she murmured mysteriously, "Yet hope remains while the Company is true." Looking above our heads now, her face broke out into a smile as her voice filled with warmth, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Go now and rest, for you are weary with sorrow and much toil. Tonight, you will sleep in peace."

On our way out, her eyes met mine.

Time seemed to slow. The warmth that had appeared on her face was gone. Her brow wrinkled with an emotion I couldn't place, but before I could study her more, Rose was tugging on my arm, pulling me away.

* * *

Our camping space was a little small but nice, and despite how unsettling the two elves had been, it was obvious to me now that neither Galadriel nor Celeborn meant us any harm. Being in the company of people who didn't want to kill us was nice for a change.

They had supplied us with new clothes as well, which was a blessing. During our travels, I hadn't realized how worn my clothes had gotten. Well, my boots had started fraying before Moria happened, but other than that.

Before any other thoughts could surface, I pushed Moria out of my mind.

Running my hand along the light grey material of my pants, I marveled at how soft they felt. The matching dark grey tunic was just as soft and was much warmer than my previous clothes had been. My feet were also comfortably padded in my new pair of boots.

That one had been a surprise. When the elves informed us that they were going to give us some clothes in the first place, I was expecting at least a tunic and pants but not new and better footwear. Maybe I'd gotten off on the wrong foot with these elves.

Rose's boots had been even worse off than mine. There had actually been a small hole on the side of her right boot, so it was a little surprising that she hadn't said anything. What she'd done to her boots to have them end up like that was beyond me.

Speaking of, the only person who hadn't said anything about their grief was Rose. Locating her sitting on a tree root across our little camp, I watched as she studied one of her throwing knives. Her fingers grazed the metal of the blade as she turned it over in her hand.

Pushing myself away from the tree I was leaning against, I walked over to her, awkwardly clearing my throat as I approached, "How are you doing?" Hopefully, she wouldn't say anything about the slight squeak in my voice.

Looking up, she squinted at me, her voice a little hesitant. "I'm alright." After a slight pause, she asked more tersely, "Is there something you need?"

I studied her for a little bit. There weren't any traces of sadness on her face, but I didn't think she was heartless enough to not feel anything. Frowning at my silence, she looked away but didn't say anything.

After another moment, I sat down beside her, mumbling, "Are you sure? I mean, with what happened and all." An awkward pause filled the silence between us. Fighting the urge to scream at myself, I sucked in a breath.

A little briskly, Rose stood up, muttering, "Look. I told you I'm fine." She stalked off, walking away.

Something compelled me to follow her. I didn't know where she was going, and I assumed she didn't know where she was going either. Trying to keep my footsteps relatively quiet, I figured she probably knew I was following her, but I felt the need to follow her silently anyway. After a few minutes of this walking, a smaller clearing opened before us. Rose sighed heavily and turned on me. "Honestly, I'm fine. Go back to the others."

Clearing my throat, I gave her a weak but pointed look. "Um, no."

"Ugh, fine." Throwing her hands in the air, she turned away from me, stalking around in a circle before finally saying, "Gandalf was the one who'd found me."

"Oh" was all I said. Mentally cursing myself an idiot, I sucked in a breath.

"Yeah." She let out a breath, then put her hands on her hips. "So, it's fine. I mean, it sucks, but it's fine."

Another awkward silence filled the air as I struggled to find something to say. Rose let her hands fall to her sides, then after a second, she folded them across her chest.

Maybe I didn't need to say anything? Sometimes that's what one was supposed to do in these situations. I mean, I could try to say that I understood what she was feeling, but there was no real way for me to justify that. My pain easily could have been different from hers. Licking my lips, I cleared my throat, "Hey, do you want to head back, or do you want to stay here for a while?"

She didn't respond; instead, she looked off in the distance behind me.

"Rose," I said, trying to get her attention. Turning to see what she was staring at, I was greeted by the figure of Galadriel walking towards us, a perplexing mix of hesitation, confusion, and concern in her features.

My stomach dropped at the sight.

Stopping before us, she first looked at me, then to Rose, before gazing back at me. Frowning, her voice light but low, she said, "Neither of you is supposed to be here."


	14. Chapter 14

**AN: Finally, we get to a small moment with Legolas :) Additionally, this will likely be the last update for a while, so my apologies in advance.**

 **Guest: Thank you! :)**

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Chapter 14

Glancing between Galadriel and Aragorn sitting across from Rose and me, I tried to soothe my racing heart by taking some deep breaths. The two of them hadn't said anything yet, but I could tell they were studying us.

I'd seen too many late night cop dramas to view this as anything other than an interrogation. I knew that wasn't what it was at all, but having the two of them stare into my soul felt too much like "good cop, bad cop." My fingers nervously drummed on the wooden table between us.

Galadriel turned to Aragorn, her blonde hair barely shifting, and murmured, "In all that I've seen, neither of them were present."

"Lord Elrond once mentioned that they both had appeared unexpectedly with no knowledge of Middle-Earth," Aragorn replied, giving her a quick glance before his eyes settled on the two of us again. His grey eyes met my blue ones, but I quickly looked away, my unease growing.

"Did he say where they came from?" Galadriel's voice was low.

Even though she had been addressing Aragorn, it was Rose who answered, "We're from somewhere that doesn't seem to exist here."

"That is to say," I found myself clarifying, "we're not exactly from this world." Nodding peculiarly, Galadriel seemed to ponder this silently. Feeling very compelled to fill the silence, I went on, "I'm from a place called New York. I don't really know how I got here. I just woke up near Rivendell after—"

I couldn't tell them that I tripped over a root of all things. I simply couldn't. Rose would never let me hear the end of it.

Galadriel fixed her clear eyes on me intently. "After what?" She gave me a small, encouraging smile.

Swallowing, I looked away, muttering quietly, "After I tripped over a tree root and knocked myself out."

Surprisingly, Rose didn't say anything. When I looked over at her, though, she was desperately trying to hide a smirk. Instead of feeling embarrassed, I was surprised to find myself getting a little offended. Hitting my head hadn't exactly felt pleasant.

Pausing for a moment, Galadriel considered this before turning to Rose. "And how about you?"

Swallowing her mirth, she coughed, composing herself. "I'm from California, which is really far away from New York. As Katherine said, I don't know how I got here. I just woke up in the fields outside of Edoras in Rohan."

Galadriel's face remained carefully neutral while she took this in, but a flicker of curiosity briefly passed through her eyes. The fear in me intensified at her expression, and what she said next did nothing to quell it, "Your world is a strange one." Pausing, the crease in her eyebrows deepened.

The words were out of my mouth before I realized I was speaking. "What do you mean by that?"

Her expression softened, her eyes focusing on my face. "My dear, there are things I can see that others cannot." Without explaining herself further, she turned to murmur something to Aragorn.

Rose swiftly interrupted her. "What the heck is that supposed to mean?" The blazing emotions swirling in her eyes somehow filled me with more anxiety.

The terror must have been evident on my face because when Aragorn's eyes met mine again, his expression softened. Raising a hand to Rose, he murmured her name, saying, "Please calm down."

Opening her mouth to protest, Rose glared at Aragorn, looking very inclined to say things she'd likely regret, but was silenced by Galadriel. "What I can see lies within your mind, Rose."

Rose slowly turned to face the elven woman.

That was it. Rose was going to absolutely blow it by shouting something she only half-thought through. I felt a little sick waiting for her to say what she was going to say, resting a hand on my stomach.

Finally, Rose narrowed her eyes, saying simply, "Prove it."

Aragorn, his expression colored with shock, opened his mouth to say something — likely to reprimand her — but Galadriel stopped him with a wave of her hand. The delicate smile still on her face, she fell silent as she gazed into Rose's eyes. Rose, who refused to back down from anything, stared right back, almost appearing bored. After another moment of silence, Galadriel pulled back. "You have a great fondness for a black beast, of whom you call 'Bubba.'"

Rose puckered her lips, a flash of emotion passing over her eyes. Swallowing, she muttered, "That's my dog."

Aragorn then asked the question I was too scared to ask myself, "Do you know how to get them back to their rightful realm?"

Her brow creasing, Galadriel didn't respond right away. Biting my lip, I waited in a renewed fit of anxiety for her to say something, _anything_ , to make me feel better. If anyone could, I believed it would be her. Beside me, Rose started clenching and releasing her fists.

A hint of sadness in her eyes, Galadriel looked between Rose and me. "I do not. I have a few thoughts, but nothing certain."

It took me a minute to process her words. They didn't feel real. I mean, if she was right, then that meant... That meant...

We were stuck here.

Disappointment crushed me, and for a second, I didn't know what to do. Granted, she did say that she had ideas, but what if they didn't work? What if Rose and I were doomed to die here? I'd never see my family again, nor would I get to go to college or do my taxes.

We'd come all this way from Rivendell only to learn there was nothing we could do.

Her whole body tense, Rose asked, "What do we do now?"

Galadriel smiled sadly, "Aragorn and I will discuss that. We will send for you upon reaching a decision."

Standing a little slowly, I smiled at the two of them, thanked them, then walked away, my knees shaking. Shockingly, another pair of footsteps followed mine. Once we had walked far enough away, I turned to her. "What do you think they're going to say?"

Rose didn't respond right away. In fact, so much time had passed between us that I assumed she hadn't heard me. When she opened her mouth, an empty sigh came out. "I have no idea." Clearing her throat, she shrugged. "I'm going to find the hobbits."

Before I could respond, she was walking away.

* * *

Another arrow thunked into the bark of the fallen log in front of me. None of my shots were landing where I wanted them to, but in all of the arrows I'd fired at the log, all of them had at least hit the bark somewhere. Any other day and my jaw would have fallen to the ground.

They didn't know what to do. As collateral damage, I didn't either but figured I could still practice despite the circumstances, figuring it would give me something to fixate on for the time being.

It was only kind of working. My aim was improving, but it was still my biggest frustration. Every five shots or so, three of them were either too far to the left, or too high, or _something_ from what I was looking at. And this was a stationary log.

I tried not to be too hard on myself, though, because I was obviously progressing. Instead of only sometimes hitting what I wanted to hit, I could hit my target at least somewhere consistently. The only thing left to do was hone my aim on specific places, but that was easier said than done.

A small glimmer of satisfaction burned in my chest despite what had come about during the meeting earlier.

The biggest area of progress I'd noticed was in the act of shooting itself. With my first shot, I was surprised to find it a little easier to draw the string back now compared to when I had first started. Selecting an arrow from my quiver while it was on my back also started feeling less awkward. I wouldn't go so far to say that I could do it really fast and under pressure, but I didn't feel like I was flinging my arm behind me blindly anymore.

With a pause, I exhaled, releasing the arrow currently loaded in my bow. The scrape of the string barely registered in my head as I was more concerned with my arrow. That familiar thunk reached my ears again, but it brought a twinge of disappointment with it. It was too low and too far to the right.

Reaching behind me once more, my fingers searched for another arrow to fire.

A light voice startled me. "Your quiver is empty."

Jumping, I jerked and twisted, my eyes landing on Legolas's lithe form staring at me, his arms crossed.

"Apologies for startling you." Warmth filled his voice, probably intended to put me at ease, but I still felt very much alarmed at his sudden arrival.

Trying to get breathing under control, I swallowed. "No, you're fine. It's alright." Trying not to shake too much, I walked over to my log and carefully began pulling my arrows free. Despite myself, heat crawled its way to my face. "Sooo, how long have you been standing there?"

His expression still unhelpfully yielding nothing, he replied, "Long enough."

My heart started racing, but I forced myself to keep gathering my arrows. What the heck did that mean?

"May I share some advice with you?"

Turning around with a renewed sense of anxiety, I gaped at him for a second before answering, "Uh, sure." Sliding the last arrow into my quiver, I walked back to my initial shooting spot. I wasn't quite sure what his advice entailed, so I drew an arrow and got into my stance, feeling ridiculously uncomfortable now that I had an audience.

"May I adjust your form?" He stalked closer to me, inspecting me with a knitted brow and narrowed eyes. "I don't wish to touch you without permission."

An odd feeling erupted in my stomach, catching me completely off guard. Feeling even weirder, I managed to stammer, "Um, yeah. That's fine."

For a few minutes, he walked around me, gently adjusting my form with his hands. Wordlessly, he lowered my arm a little and repositioned where I was drawing my arrow back to. Without warning, one of his hands slid around to my back and rested there. His lips feeling very close to my ear, he murmured, "Keep your tension here."

His hand felt strangely warm through the fabric of my tunic. I was also incredibly aware of his close proximity, which sent a funny feeling coursing through my veins. Praying he couldn't tell he unsettled I felt at his lingering touch, I nodded lamely. After another second, he removed his hand and stepped away.

A breath of relief rushed out of my lungs, and with a hint of embarrassment, I figured Legolas had probably heard it. Swallowing, I tried to turn my attention to the arrow loaded in my bow. Looking at the log with my dominant eye, I felt a strong sense of hesitation now that I was no longer alone. After another second, I fired.

The arrow hit the tree but was too far to the left of the knot I'd been aiming at.

Looking between the arrow and Legolas, I waited to see if he'd say something about it. When he remained silent, his arms crossed again, I drew another one and fired it after another moment of crushing nervousness.

Once again, the arrow missed the knot I was aiming for, but this time, it was too high and leaned to the left.

I fired a few more in silent succession, those awkward pauses filling the silence between shots as I contemplated my stance and aim. All of them ended up hitting the fallen tree, but all of them were still a little off in some way.

"Your stance has improved, yet you think too much before you release." Legolas's voice managed to startle me again after remaining silent for so long. He strode over to the log, removing my arrows for me while I just stood in my spot. After handing them to me, he stepped back and fell silent once more.

I muttered my thanks, then drew another arrow, picking my point before releasing the arrow. The string stung my fingers again, but instead of focusing on it, I watched my arrow fly towards the tree.

It landed on the outer rim of the knot. That was the closest I'd been yet.

In the corner of my vision, Legolas smiled faintly. Nodding to me, he bid me a good practice session, saying, "Further improvement will come as you grow stronger."

A strong sense of hope flourished in my stomach, and I found myself firing arrow after arrow into the tree with more confidence than I'd ever felt before. My aim had improved a bit after I stopped thinking, but as I got tired, it started getting sloppier. That didn't bother me, though, because I was finally getting somewhere.

Gathering my arrows one last time, my arms burning, I couldn't wipe the dumb smile off my face. Savoring that feeling as I slid my arrows into my quiver again, I failed to hear the footsteps behind me.

"Come with me," Rose said, emerging from behind to grab my wrist. "They want to see us now."


	15. Chapter 15

**AN: Once again, I've blinked and four months have gone by :) Here's an update, and thank you for reading!**

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Chapter 15

Rose slammed her hand on the table in front of us. "You want us to remain here!?" From my spot beside her, I was all but choking on the rage she was giving off.

Aragorn sighed, his eyes fluttering closed, "We think it best for you to stay in Lorien. You both will be safer here." After a moment, he added, "Besides, your initial reason for joining this company was to reach Lorien. Now that you're here, you should remain so."

Rose clenched her teeth together, letting out a small noise of frustration before turning to me. "Ugh, say something!"

She caught me completely off guard, so the first words out of my mouth were: "I don't have anything to say." The moment they were floating in the air between us, I instantly regretted them. I wasn't trying to be aggressive or difficult or anything. In fact, my words had sounded pretty passive, but it wasn't the support Rose wanted. I wasn't exactly the one having problems with the decision to remain here, though.

Rose rolled her eyes, the annoyance I'd anticipated blazing. "You've got to be kidding me." The muscles in her jaw feathered.

"I understand your frustration Rose—," Aragorn started to say, but Rose swiftly cut him off.

"No. I don't think you do," Rose all but spat, looking at him furiously. I reached over to lay a hand of warning on her arm, but she batted it away roughly without looking at me.

Before she could say anything else, Aragorn cut in, scowling. "Rose, that's enough." As if he only just realized how he was sounding, he closed his eyes and took a breath. His next words were a little softer. "I don't want you to get hurt."

"Who said that's your call to make? I'm sorry, but I'm done here." Rose stood abruptly, fury burning in her eyes. "Forgive me for leaving without any sort of _dismissal_ ," she practically chewed on the word, "but I'm done." With that, she turned on her heel and walked away, not bothering to order me after her.

To my surprise, neither Galadriel nor Aragorn said anything as she left.

All at once, I became acutely aware that I had been abandoned. My heart started to hammer. I knew it was ridiculous, but part of me worried that they would blame me for her outburst. Pairing that with the gathering silence left in Rose's wake, I felt incredibly uncomfortable. Swallowing thickly, I cleared my throat. "Uh, I'm sorry about that." When I was greeted with their eyes and more silence, I stumbled on. "That's just how she is. But you guys knew that already." I rubbed my neck. "Or, at least you did, Aragorn. But that's no excuse or anything."

Oddly enough, Lady Galadriel was the one who responded, speaking for the first time since breaking the news to us, "This is not for you to handle." Pursing her lips thoughtfully, the Lady went on, "I imagine that she will settle eventually."

Still not entirely sure what to do, I rose and nodded to the two of them. "I think I might go see if I can find her." After a brief pause, I met Lady Galadriel's smiling face. "I guess I'll see you later."

Walking away from them, I started to make a mental list of all of the places where she could have run off to. The first stop was back at the camp, but I doubted she'd go there. It was too open, and she was too angry to go somewhere rational. Even still, checking with the others wasn't a bad idea. There was also a chance one of them could have seen her storming by in all her glory.

The next place I thought of was the clearing that she had wandered off to the first time she'd been upset, but I had doubts about that place, too. She'd found that clearing by walking around blindly, and right now, she was too angry to be thinking clearly enough to find it again.

Just like that, I'd run out of places that I knew in Lorien. Finding her wasn't going to be easy. At least I knew how to get back to the camp from where Galadriel and Aragorn had met with us.

While I walked, there was a nagging thought in the back of my head about why I cared so much. There were so many things about her that reminded me of Melanie. She only ever called on me to get me to do things and wouldn't let me refuse to do what she wanted. Why did I put up with that? Why was I so tolerant?

Before I could answer my own questions, I realized I had found my way back to our small camp. Almost as if my internal misgivings hadn't happened, I immediately started scanning it for Rose. Like I had initially suspected, though, she was nowhere to be found. Trying not to groan, I closed my eyes and rubbed the bridge of my nose. Why was I doing this?

"You alright there, Lassie?"

Flinching at the sudden noise, I opened my eyes to see Gimli sitting against one of the silver trunks a short distance away, looking at me with a frown and a pipe hanging out of his mouth.

"Oh, hey Gimli." To my mild horror, my voice sounded deflated. Shaking my head, I approached him and quickly said, "Um, I'm not really sure. I'm looking for Rose. Have you seen her anywhere?"

The dwarf's frown deepened. "Looking for her again, are ya?" Not really knowing how else to respond, I just shrugged. He grunted, saying, "It seems as though she's always running off. To answer your question, though, I have not."

Somehow, I wasn't surprised. I murmured my thanks and started to turn away from him, but he stopped me again, asking, "Lass, mind if I tell you a tale?" Gazing back at him over my shoulder, I hesitated. Seeing this, he added, "It's an old dwarven one."

How could I say no to that? Shrugging again, I sat down in the grass a few feet away from him.

The ghost of a smile appeared on his lips, and he declared, "Mind you, this was told to me when I was a wee dwarf, so you'll forgive me if it's a bit rusty." He cleared his throat then began, "There once was a young, strong dwarf named Kradrul who fell in love with the most beautiful lass in all the land. Trouble was, she loved another and didn't take any notice him, but that didn't stop Kradrul. He trained and fought and did all sorts of things in her name. As it turns out, lass, it was all for nothing. She never looked his way and married her lover without knowing of Kradrul's feelings for her." With a sigh, Gimli sat back and looked at me expectantly.

I sat frozen for a second. That was it? Try as I might mask it, the absolutely bewildered expression on my face was probably evident as Gimli gave a hearty chuckle.

"You'll need to forgive me as that was no old tale at all." He looked at me with a good-natured seriousness. "You're Kradrul, and Rose is the fair lass. I'm not saying you're in love with her, but you've been spending so much of your time chasing her when she stomps off that you're not doing anything else."

Closing my eyes, I sighed and rubbed my face. He was right, and both he and I knew it. "What should I do then?"

Gimli shrugged and adjusted his pipe. "You could continue to be Kradrul and chase after the lass, or you could sit here and listen to some real dwarven tales."

Before I could say anything, a young voice burst in, "Wait, will they really be real ones this time?"

Snapping my head to the left, I saw Merry and Pippin sitting a short distance away. Neither Gimli nor I had noticed them approach.

Merry turned to the younger hobbit and scolded him, "Were you not listening? He said they would be!"

"I did, but I just wanted to make sure!" Pippin retorted, clearly offended. An angry scowl appeared on his face.

A flicker of happiness glimmered in my chest. Even though I knew I wasn't going to be traveling with them anymore, this was still nice. I was definitely going to miss them, but at least I could enjoy this moment. A smile gracing my face, I turned to Gimli. "What other stories do you have?"


	16. Chapter 16

Chapter 16

I'd spent the rest of the evening in the company of Gimli and the hobbits, listening to them tell various stories from their homelands, but part of me still couldn't quite push Rose or the fact that I wasn't going to be journeying with them anymore out of my mind. Thoughts of the late wizard also would creep in on occasion, which made everything worse.

I still couldn't believe he was gone.

The fabric of my bedroll cushioning me from the forest floor, I rolled onto my side and tried to think of something else. My eyes swept over the clearing. Sam, who was currently fast asleep near me, twitched a little bit, a sleepy smile on his face. Frodo was on his other side, his breathing a little shallow but even. Most of the others were sleeping as well, but for some reason, I couldn't. It probably had something to do with the fact that I had a lot on my mind.

Despite only being here for only a short duration of time so far, I didn't really mind Lorien. It was quiet, peaceful, and exactly the kind of place where Rose and I would be safe. Galadriel seemed like she would protect us, and then there were Lorien's efficient archers. For the first time in a while, I felt okay enough to relax. There were no slimy pond monsters grabbing for me nor were there any orcs trying to kill me.

Though, I couldn't deny the small part of me that had started protesting the decision that had been made for me. I couldn't tell if Rose was rubbing off on me, or if spending the evening with Gimli and the others had changed something, but there was a piece of me rebelling.

I worried that that small bit was going to start growing soon.

It was safe here. I knew that. It was safe, and I wanted — no, I _needed_ — to be somewhere safe for a while, but part of my soul had started whispering that staying put wasn't for me anymore. I could _feel_ it.

Rationally, though, I knew it was impossible. I was nowhere near strong enough despite vow upon vow to change that, and Aragorn was a force to be reckoned with. Changing his mind would take work, but there was also my sane mind telling me that engaging with him on these grounds was a very bad idea. If I was being completely candid, Rose and I should never have been allowed to leave Rivendell, and Aragorn wasn't going to make that same mistake again. He was smarter than that.

No. We were staying here, and that was final.

There was movement out of the corner of my eye. In the darkness, I couldn't tell what it was, and my body stilled. On instinct, fear started coursing through my veins, waking me up. Looking to Boromir, who was sitting across the way, I opened my mouth to call for him when a deep frown paired with green eyes materialized out of the gloom.

As if he'd seen her at the same moment, the man was standing in an instant, intercepting Rose before she could make it far into the camp. From what I could tell, Boromir was saying something to her, but I couldn't hear anything. Rose looked at him, hands on her hips, and casually shrugged. Squinting in the dark, I strained my ears to hear what Boromir said next but was only greeted with more silence.

This time, Rose didn't move. Boromir angled his head a little bit, saying something else. Surprisingly, from what I could tell at least, Rose took a deep breath and replied, appearing to be less aggressive this time as her shoulders slumped.

I never thought I'd live to see the day when that happened. Perhaps it was just a trick of the darkness.

Frowning, Boromir muttered something else but didn't stop her as she walked away. Closing my eyes, I tried to act like I wasn't awake, but my breathing was likely too fast for it to be convincing.

Her footsteps, though just subdued whispers in the leaves of grass, got louder as she approached me. She rustled through her bag quickly, likely digging out her bedroll, before crouching near me, her knees popping. The brush of cloth swishing against the ground reached my ears, and there were a few metallic clangs afterward.

She was probably taking off her weapons. That was explanation enough as to what she'd been doing.

The grass and leaves on the ground crunched as she laid down. After a little bit of shifting, she made no further noises.

Laying on my back once more, I let out a sigh and strained to keep my ragging thoughts at bay.

* * *

Faint rays of sunshine shone through my closed eyelids. My face scrunching, I rolled over to my side. Was it morning already?

Off to my left, something was making rummaging noises. Stretching, I took a deep breath through my nose and was greeted by the earthy smells of the woodland around us and the savory tang of breakfast being prepared.

Despite the fact that Rose probably hated my guts, I wasn't going to be with these people much longer, and Gandalf was still a dull ache in my chest, I somehow felt a little lighter. Figuring it probably had something to do with sleeping safely and soundly for once, I sat up and opened my eyes, taking in the morning.

Speaking of Rose, one other thing to come to my attention was the absence of her bedroll. Frowning, I wasn't sure if that surprised me or not.

Tucking loose strands of my hair behind my ear, I walked over to the fire crackling several feet away. Sam was hunched over a pan, poking at some strips of meat with a stick. The other hobbits were clustered around him, eating and chatting amongst themselves. As I approached, they greeted me with warm smiles. Pippin, with a piece of cooked meat hanging out of his mouth, gave me a small wave and pushed some food into my hands.

"How'd you sleep?" Merry, an apple in his grip, looked at me expectantly.

I swallowed a mouthful of bread, shrugging. "Not too bad I guess. I was up for a little bit, but I managed to sleep okay anyway." Giving Sam a look, I smiled. "I know for a fact that you slept just fine."

A blush crept up the hobbit's neck, and Merry snickered beside me. Fixing him with a glare, the usually reserved and humble hobbit frowned. "Hey, quit your laughing! It feels so cozy around here with the elves and all."

"It's alright, Sam," Frodo said, smiling. Amusement danced in his eyes as he looked at his friend, a half-smile on his face. "They don't mean anything by it."

Sam said something else, causing the four of them to launch into another one of their lengthy and heated conversations. With a hint of a smile, I watched them, quietly finishing my small breakfast.

Now that I didn't have any responsibilities, what, exactly, was I supposed to do now? It wasn't like the group had given me many duties to do while we were traveling or anything, but at least we had a goal and an intent then. Even if mine was to reach Lorien safely.

There was also the unanswered question pertaining to how Rose currently viewed me since the meeting yesterday. From what I could see, she wasn't in our little camp. Her weapons were also gone, so she was probably off practicing somewhere. Had she eaten this morning?

 _"You've been spending so much of your time chasing her when she stomps off that you're not doing anything else."_

Blinking, I let Gimli's words from the night before wash over me like a bucket of ice water. He was right. I was spending too much of my time worrying about her. I needed something else to do. My eyes roamed as the chattering hobbits faded into the background. What was there to do?

My gaze fell on my bow leaning against my pack. There was always practicing even though my traveling days were done for the foreseeable future.

Hardly registering the four hobbits around me, I absent-mindedly muttered my thanks for breakfast before standing up, shaking the sleep out of my legs. None of the hobbits called after me.

The wood of my bow was smooth in my grip, and for a moment, the thought of what Melanie would say about me now crossed my mind. My journey may have been over, but I could still mostly use a weapon and potentially defend myself against a really slow-moving attacker. A smile tugged against the corners of my mouth.

When I turned around to head out, my quiver slung over my shoulder in a semi-fluid motion, I spotted Rose stalking back into the camp, her sword strapped to her back. I wasn't trying to make eye contact with her, but if I wasn't mistaken, she was striding right towards me.

 _She's not my problem. She's not my problem. Leave her be. She's not my problem._

Flicking my hair over my shoulder, I adjusted the quiver on my back. As I walked to the edge of the camp, her path shifted to cross with mine. Noticing this, a warning flag went up in my head, and my pulse started racing. How was I supposed to "leave her be" now that she was actively seeking me out?

When she was a few feet away, Rose cleared her throat. "Can I talk to you?"

So much for trying to mind my own business. "Uh," I furrowed my eyebrows in confusion, turning to face her a little reluctantly, "sure?"

I wasn't entirely positive, but it looked like a flicker of relief went through her eyes, but it was too fast for me really to know for sure. Swallowing, she took a breath. "Look, I'm sorry for getting upset with you earlier, okay?"

I fought the urge to raise my eyebrows. She was here to apologize?

Folding her arms over her chest, she went on, averting her eyes briefly, "I didn't take the decision well, and I lashed out at you when you didn't deserve it." She bit her lip. I tried not to gape at her. "I don't know, maybe this is all just getting to me. I've never done anything like this before, and I guess it was stupid of me to get us involved in this whole thing."

Before I could think it through, I blurted, "What you pulled in Rivendell was wholeheartedly and thoroughly stupid, but I was too scared to say something back then."

Frowning slightly, Rose fixed me with a look, but I noticed it was lacking its usual spite. "In fairness, I really wanted out of Rivendell."

"You could have gone to wherever the hobbits came from." Wracking my brain, I searched for the name of their homeland. "The...Shire sounds pretty safe."

"I guess you're right."

This time, I couldn't hide my shock. "Wait, what? You're agreeing with me?"

A bright smirk appeared on her face. "It's not going to happen again, so don't get used to it." Her expression fading, she looked me over, taking note of my bow, "You're heading out to practice anyway?"

Shrugging, I rubbed my thumb against the curve of my bow. "It's not like I have anything better to do." Raising my eyebrows, I nodded to the weapons all over her. "You haven't been?"

Rose shrugged a shoulder nonchalantly. "Fair enough, Upstate." I knew it.

 _She's not my problem._

Smacking her hands on her thighs, Rose backed away from me, gesturing a thumb over her shoulder. "I think I'm going to go see if Sam has any food left. He was still asleep when I left this morning." She gave me a little wave. "Have a good time!"

Raising my hand in response, I watched her leave but felt a little weird about the whole thing. The Rose I knew would have never voluntarily admitted that she'd done something wrong. While it still felt really nice to get an apology, something about the whole thing just felt _off_. There was no other way to explain it. I also didn't buy the whole "this adventure is just getting to me." Images of her eyes lighting up while roughing it in the wild had been burned into my brain. I mean, I'd seen them shining with excitement literally every other day since leaving Rivendell.

There was something going on with her. I was sure of it.

Letting out a breath of air, I shook my head and turned to walk away. She wasn't my problem. She was not my responsibility to handle, nor was it my duty to deal with her being difficult.

As hard as I tried to stifle it, I couldn't shake the feeling that she was planning something.


End file.
